Decius wrote:
] The problem is that this sends a really bad message about
] cloning. This baby, if real, is probably going to be fucked
] up. People looking for an excuse to ban genetic engineering
] (some of whom have reasons that are no more realistic then
] those of this Alien group) will hold up this poor child as an
] example of the bad things that happen when you screw with
] genetics.
]
] It is wrong to take poorly understood genetic techniques and
] apply them to a real human being. Its mad science, in the
] English sense. Its science that hurts people.

Yep, as I said, there are many reasons I don't like this. I'm trying to see a brite side to it, granted, the only thing I've gotten thus far is a stoke to my sick sense of humor. And that not necessarly a good thing. I would rather have people like John Waters stoking my sick sense of humor, but these people.. Ug. You take what you can get I guess.

] We are increasingly in an environment where alarmist,
] reactionary thinking rules the day. Look at the Stock Market.
] Thats people betting AGAINST future growth in this country.
] Take Bill Joy, Fukuyama, and the DMCA, throw in 19 terrorists
] and this Alien group... shaken, not stirred. We may be heading
] toward a dark time, when certain kinds of thoughts,
] explorations, and considerations, are simply not allowed in
] the light of day, and must occur under a shrowd of secrecy
] regardless of how responsible they are. I kept hearing that
] theory from everyone at Defcon. I discounted it, but it is a
] distinct possibility.

It is a distinct possibility. Infact, I think we are going down that path already, and I'm not sure it can be stopped. I expect resistance to things like community networks, open media systems, open source software, etc, to happen at some point in the future. People seem to like having someone in control. Makes them feel comfortable. I think that at some point, so much change is going to be occuring that people are going to get scared and run to their favorite defense mechanism and start stopping progress. I do think the long term effects of things like information technology and bio engineering are going to be a hell of alot greater then the assembly line and the cotton gin, if you catch my drift.

We are living in the asymetrical age. Many things are being turned upside down. War, communications networks, the media, etc. Its a growth process, a painful growth process. Who knows what the hell will happen. But whatever it is, its not going to be pretty. We don't have a choice but to be ready for it. If my rights to work on projects I want to work on are infringed, I'm prepared to go underground. Bad news is, so is everyone else. This cloning thing may be proof of that. There is nothing we can do to limit bad science that isn't at the expense of good science also. Them the breaks.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we don't destroy the human race in the process of adapting to the changes our technological advancement are causing us to undergo. I have a very grim view of the future anymore, and whats worse is I'm becoming comfortable with that grim view..

RE: Cloned humans, aliens, and history books