Posted on 01/15/2015 6:22:19 PM PST by 11th_VA
In Austen Heinz’s vision of the future, customers tinker with the genetic codes of plants and animals and even design new creatures on a computer. Then his startup, Cambrian Genomics, prints that DNA quickly, accurately and cheaply.
“Anyone in the world that has a few dollars can make a creature, and that changes the game,” Heinz said. “And that creates a whole new world.”
The 31-year-old CEO has a deadpan demeanor that can be hard to read, but he is not kidding. In a makeshift laboratory in San Francisco, his synthetic biology company uses lasers to create custom DNA for major pharmaceutical companies. Its mission, to “democratize creation” with minimal to no regulation, frightens bioethicists as deeply as it thrills Silicon Valley venture capitalists.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.sfgate.com ...
Many dystopian science fiction plots could be spun around this.
can it create honest politicans?
Bogus
NO! This is not science fiction! This is real life, and there are limitations on what is possible.
Alas.
Ours is a government of checks and balances. The Mafia and crooked businessmen make out checks, and the politicians and other compromised officials improve their bank balances.
Steve Allen
“Monster Mash”
(originally by Bobby (Boris) Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers)
I was working in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster from his slab began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise
He did the mash
He did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash
It caught on in a flash
He did the mash
He did the monster mash
From my laboratory in the castle east
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes
They did the mash
They did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
They did the mash
It caught on in a flash
They did the mash
They did the monster mash
The zombies were having fun
The party had just begun
The guests included Wolf Man
Dracula and his son
The scene was rockin’, all were digging the sounds
Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, “The Crypt-Kicker Five”
They played the mash
They played the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
They played the mash
It caught on in a flash
They played the mash
They played the monster mash
Out from his coffin, Drac’s voice did ring
Seems he was troubled by just one thing
He opened the lid and shook his fist
And said, “Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?”
It’s now the mash
It’s now the monster mash
The monster mash
And it’s a graveyard smash
It’s now the mash
It’s caught on in a flash
It’s now the mash
It’s now the monster mash
Now everything’s cool, Drac’s a part of the band
And my monster mash is the hit of the land
For you, the living, this mash was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them only sent you
Then you can mash
Then you can monster mash
The monster mash
And do my graveyard smash
Then you can mash
You’ll catch on in a flash
Then you can mash
Then you can monster mash
I love that song !
It’s only DNA. Going from there to actual living, functioning organisms is a huge leap. It’s a bit like going from designing paper airplanes to designing jumbo jets. I seriously doubt anything functional beyond a simple one-cell organism can be made in this manner.
Johnny Quest?
And so begins the updated first chapter of “The Island of Dr. Moreau, originally by H.G. Wells. Featuring Chimeras, Nymphs and the Yet To Be Defined.
They’re not even engineers. They are just a company that bought equipment that allows them to synthesize specific DNA sequences. This technology has been around for a long time, and people by probes and DNA sequences from these companies all the time. It is a huge leap from synthesizing a piece of DNA to ‘creating new creatures’. This guy, like so many in the pitiful remnant of ethical scientific research in this country, is just trying to use hype to make a buck.
Your DNA sequence and mine is changed daily via mutation. It has been estimated that over a million DNA mutations occur per cell per day. Hard to know if that’s accurate, but it is clearly a frequent occurrence. Most of these get repaired, but not all. Most of us aren’t turning into ‘new creatures’.
I want to create a Liberal eating plant with DNA from the Venus Flytrap... :-)
Creatures? How many Moochelle Obama’s do we need?
“Controversial DNA Startup wants to Let Customers Create Creatures”
This isn’t going to end well. At least, it doesn’t in the movies.
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