Genetic Engineering: Yay Or Nay?

[pantsoffdanceoff]

It's technology so YES it could be used wrongly, but so can every piece of technology. In the end it would enhance our lives. And yes, all sci-fi says "no it wouldn't" but how fun would a story be if everything just went dandy?

BTW, genetic mutation would still happen if we genetic engineering was done as it is hypothesized now, so worries of the gene pool becoming stagnant is total bollocks.

 

[Phenakist]

I see nothing essentially wrong with it, but personally I wouldn't want anything do do with it, frankly any form of surgery is unnatural, never mind on a genetic level

 

[Dyp100]

Yay, we can secure a better life for our children that way, we make them healthy, and all that.

Plus the closer to get to fighting back genetic defect and disease, the closer we are perfection.

There will always be racism in the world, so that argument is bad, and nature is flawed, so that argument is bad, science will help the world into a golden age!

 

[dalek sec]

Yes damnit! I want Daleks for my own personal army and maybe a pet shoggoth!

 

[Drakmeire]

YAY because I want my laser eyes at some point!

 

[salbarragan]

Totally! Make us smarter, faster, prettier, longer lived. Remove depression and other mental illnesses. Those that are unwilling to move along with technology, let them live in their grass huts beating rocks together. We are doing what natural selection takes forever to do and more importantly, we choose where we want nature to take us.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Nay. Why? Ever seen the movie Gattaca? Pretty much that.

 

[dekkarax]

YAY because I want my laser eyes at some point!

genetics don't work like that, they would have had to change your genes before you were born.

I say mostly nay. Plants are fine, developing more nutritious plants could help the world quite a bit; but human genetic engineering? Far too risky, we simply cannot predict the outcome, sure, it could bring about a golden age, but it could also bring about human extinction.

 

[Drakmeire]

YAY because I want my laser eyes at some point!

genetics don't work like that, they would have had to change your genes before you were born.

I say mostly nay. Plants are fine, developing more nutritious plants could help the world quite a bit; but human genetic engineering? Far too risky, we simply cannot predict the outcome, sure, it could bring about a golden age, but it could also bring about human extinction.

I realize that genetic engineering works that way but I just like to have a sense of humor about it. In seriousness I hate the idea of parents choosing what their baby will look like. but I like the idea of unlocking unused parts of the brain.

 

[dekkarax]

YAY because I want my laser eyes at some point!

genetics don't work like that, they would have had to change your genes before you were born.

I say mostly nay. Plants are fine, developing more nutritious plants could help the world quite a bit; but human genetic engineering? Far too risky, we simply cannot predict the outcome, sure, it could bring about a golden age, but it could also bring about human extinction.

I realize that genetic engineering works that way but I just like to have a sense of humor about it. In seriousness I hate the idea of parents choosing what their baby will look like. but I like the idea of unlocking unused parts of the brain.

In that case: I WANT TO MELT THINGS WITH MY BRAIN!!

 

[iblis666]

im kinda against messing around in human genetics except to fix genetic diseases, after all what happens if they fuck up or if the genes degrade or if people dont have compatible genes any more.

 

[Btheking]

I'm all for it, BTW a few days ago I saw some documentary on NGC, it seems they've already successfully altered worms so they don't age anymore and live 5 or 6 times longer by disabling or removing the gene which causes aging, this would also be possible on humans, it would make us grow about 500 years old, also it would be permanent, it would still be in effect on the generations which come after.

Yep. It could also possibly kill us before we're 15. The genes involved in cell-aging and the deaths of organisms are usually always involved in cancer-related diseases. Knock the cell-aging gene(s) out, and you got the problem of cancer. You've raised my interest about this documentary though. Do you have the original name of it, or at least a website link to it?

We can't rule out living forever as a possibility, but it'll take a helluva long time to figure out how to do it, and all the smart people died a long time ago.

I don't know the name of the documentary, it was somewhere during last week, in one of the documentaries during Space Week, on the dutch version of NGC, something about searching for a new planet... Anyway I'll try to find the name.

Just to say that gene could be very important to us 'Knocking it out' as you put it could kill or retard you(dont giggle its a sicentific term). A much better discovery was gene that increases the life of jellyfish I believe. I forget how it worked, but I think someone was told it could increase the life of a normal humman by around about 30 years.

Anyway to my main point adding random genes to your body is not realy a good idea right now as we have no idea how it will effect our specise if we do. A better way to make your self 'immortal' would be to replace genes lost due to ageing. Adding genes to cells and your genetic code can be and is done to lower the effects of some diseases like cystic fibrosis and more. If you did not know ageing is the cased by the destruction of your genes over time and you did not guess from my sentence above you know now.

Eat veg stop evil free radicals killinz your genes!

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Hells yes, please, as long as we focus on the realistic sides of it--repairing bone cells, brain cells, Teeth Cells (or at least find out how to repair enamel), and learning how to grow skin, organs, and muscles to help people like burn victims, patients in need, things like that. Oh, and the day we figure out how to incorporate chlorophyll and such into the human body would be absolutely orgasmic.

 

[Btheking]

They can grown teeth now in a lab these are living live nevers systems an all not the crapy plastic ones from the 90s. They are then implated into your mouth was all over the news just a few mouths ago GE works and is awsome.

 

[Btheking]

I might have post alot on this thread and all but one last thing i am not sure if it is ture or and urban myth or just some lie or some crap sci-fi but once i was told a compeny was considering taking part of a animal gene (dont have to be different from a gene in a humman) implating it into an embryo leting it grow then selling it as live stock into to slavery anyhting as they would then own its genes. Again I want to know is it a lie or not?

 

[The Austin]

If someone could Engeneer me to be like Wesker from RE5 (Super strong like Spider Man, can take 20 shotgun blasts and not be injured like Wolvorine, can warp around like John Wraith, and has super human reflexis like Neo) I would do anything to get it done. And then I would become the most awsome superhero ever.

I can see It now........
The Adventures Of....
GUINEA PIG MAN!!!!!!!!

 

[Jark212]

Yay, under close supervision. We could turn the entire Human Race into Spartans: No diseases of any kind... ever.

I'm dead serious.

 

[Ezzay]

If someone who was an asshole one day realised that he can fly naked and shit on people and fly away would you say," I don't want them"?

There will always be assholes, there are assholes now, how would it be any different?

Only that there is new ways for them to be assholes.

Oh lord I swore alot in there.

 

[lostclause]

I might have post alot on this thread and all but one last thing i am not sure if it is ture or and urban myth or just some lie or some crap sci-fi but once i was told a compeny was considering taking part of a animal gene (dont have to be different from a gene in a humman) implating it into an embryo leting it grow then selling it as live stock into to slavery anyhting as they would then own its genes. Again I want to know is it a lie or not?

At least part of that is true. The british government voted a while ago (I don't know the outcome) on whether or not to allow these hybrid embryos. I think they were for research purposes though, not for slavery.