Re:This just "Open Sources" life...
on
Planet Gattaca
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· Score: 1
Bleah.. end of the religious debate folks, lets start forking life forms and putting them in CVS trees.
This is probably the best idea I've heard throughout this thread. I think it's going to happen. I think cloning will happen. The fact of the matter is, we've been doing it for years. It's called reproduction. But there are two points I want to make with this.
(1) We don't know what will happen when we clean up the genetic copying process. If we take out genetic diseases and start making perfect copies, will that cause the gene pool to stagnate?
(2) When you create a clone, do you create a human spirt, soul along with it? I know I've ventured a bit into the religious side of it, but it's an interesting question. Personally, I think that upgringing and environment have a huge effect on the personality and actions of a person.
So bring on the cloning and genetic screening. I disagree Katz. I think that we should charge ahead with the research. Granted, something along the way will screw up, a whole lot of people will die or be mutated or something, and we'll learn to live with the research. We've done that in every major advancement to date (chemical, nuclear, gun powder, etc...).
Then again... Maybe it's not ok to proceed in that manner. As a society, we have focused on life and liberty and take death to be something to be fought at every turn. This conflicts with our past were advances almost always meant human sacrifice (Hiroshima, World War 1 Mustard Gas, etc..)
The process which the article is talking about (PCR - Polymerase Chain Reaction) is a significant advancement that has allowed the HGP to progress at amazing speed.
In a nutshell, the process allows a small piece of DNA which was cut out of the genome to be amplified (replicated) repeatedly a few million times. This allows genetecists to examine the piece of DNA on a large scale, therby eliminating a lot of expensive equipment. By staggering the enzymes which are cutting the piece out, the genetic code can be read out directly for a lot of bases at once.
While I believe that patenting of DNA sequences is something we have to come to grips with (and hopefully outlaw), this patent definitely does not fall into that category. If anything, this is a really really elegant hack which allows DNA to be examined by making lots of copies quickly and cheaply. This makes it possible for anyone to do the research. Essentially they are trying to open up the sequencing by coming up with an ingenius technique.
I also really take offense to people who cheer or boo this decision without taking a look at content and only look at the subject heading! Read something carefully before spouting off an opinion and maybe you'll actually make sense.
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This is probably the best idea I've heard throughout this thread. I think it's going to happen. I think cloning will happen. The fact of the matter is, we've been doing it for years. It's called reproduction. But there are two points I want to make with this.
(1) We don't know what will happen when we clean up the genetic copying process. If we take out genetic diseases and start making perfect copies, will that cause the gene pool to stagnate?
(2) When you create a clone, do you create a human spirt, soul along with it? I know I've ventured a bit into the religious side of it, but it's an interesting question. Personally, I think that upgringing and environment have a huge effect on the personality and actions of a person.
So bring on the cloning and genetic screening. I disagree Katz. I think that we should charge ahead with the research. Granted, something along the way will screw up, a whole lot of people will die or be mutated or something, and we'll learn to live with the research. We've done that in every major advancement to date (chemical, nuclear, gun powder, etc...).
Then again... Maybe it's not ok to proceed in that manner. As a society, we have focused on life and liberty and take death to be something to be fought at every turn. This conflicts with our past were advances almost always meant human sacrifice (Hiroshima, World War 1 Mustard Gas, etc..)
It's funny because it true -- Homer J.
In a nutshell, the process allows a small piece of DNA which was cut out of the genome to be amplified (replicated) repeatedly a few million times. This allows genetecists to examine the piece of DNA on a large scale, therby eliminating a lot of expensive equipment. By staggering the enzymes which are cutting the piece out, the genetic code can be read out directly for a lot of bases at once.
While I believe that patenting of DNA sequences is something we have to come to grips with (and hopefully outlaw), this patent definitely does not fall into that category. If anything, this is a really really elegant hack which allows DNA to be examined by making lots of copies quickly and cheaply. This makes it possible for anyone to do the research. Essentially they are trying to open up the sequencing by coming up with an ingenius technique.
I also really take offense to people who cheer or boo this decision without taking a look at content and only look at the subject heading! Read something carefully before spouting off an opinion and maybe you'll actually make sense.
It's funny because it's true -- Homer J.