As we as a society move further down the line of genetic science, one side branch that has appealed to use for generations is finally within our grasp "De-Extinction."
De-Extinction is essentially bringing an extinct animal back to life, and this has already been done somewhat successfully before to a lesser degree (See: the Pyrenean Ibex which went extinct in the year 2000 and a new one was bred using a goat as a host in 2009 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sci...8/Extinct-ibex-is-resurrected-by-cloning.html)
Cloning has been going on for years (with the obvious most famous example being Dolly the Sheep, which at one point they were even thinking of designing a Pokemon around but they cancelled it because it was deemed too controversial) But now we've reached a point where certain countries are attempting these operations on much different, and more controversial animals; Japan is currently resurrecting a Woolly Mammoth, Dr. George Church of Harvard University in the US is planning to resurrect a Neanderthal human (my views on the ethics of this are entirely different from everything else).
There's so many different possibilities, and we're all doing so many different things with this information that most of us have never stopped to ask, should we? Personally, I feel the things we could learn are too great to not tap into, and as long as the animals are well taken care of (the Neanderthal is incredibly controversial and I'm not sure how I feel about this yet), I think it would be alright.
What do you all think about the ethics of this relatively new science field? Do you hope to see it expand?
De-Extinction is essentially bringing an extinct animal back to life, and this has already been done somewhat successfully before to a lesser degree (See: the Pyrenean Ibex which went extinct in the year 2000 and a new one was bred using a goat as a host in 2009 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sci...8/Extinct-ibex-is-resurrected-by-cloning.html)
Cloning has been going on for years (with the obvious most famous example being Dolly the Sheep, which at one point they were even thinking of designing a Pokemon around but they cancelled it because it was deemed too controversial) But now we've reached a point where certain countries are attempting these operations on much different, and more controversial animals; Japan is currently resurrecting a Woolly Mammoth, Dr. George Church of Harvard University in the US is planning to resurrect a Neanderthal human (my views on the ethics of this are entirely different from everything else).
There's so many different possibilities, and we're all doing so many different things with this information that most of us have never stopped to ask, should we? Personally, I feel the things we could learn are too great to not tap into, and as long as the animals are well taken care of (the Neanderthal is incredibly controversial and I'm not sure how I feel about this yet), I think it would be alright.
What do you all think about the ethics of this relatively new science field? Do you hope to see it expand?
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