Your Opinion-Dinos rule the Earth?

D

Darsh

Guest
Well, after just watching Jurassic Park for probably the 50th time I began wondering could the creation of dinosaurs be possible? If you've never seen the movie the general story is a billionaire buys and island and hires some scientists to create a Dinosaur Theme Park but after creating the dinos they get loose and take over the island. The scientists use dino blood found in mosquitos (that were trapped in amber) to get the DNA and then clone the dinosaurs. So we have a 3-part poll.

#1. Do we have the technology and knowledge to create dinosaurs?

#2. Do you think that there is someone right now working to create a dinosaur?

#3. Do you think we should create a dinosaur?

Have fun with it.:)
 
H

Hetemti

Guest
#1. Do we have the technology and knowledge to create dinosaurs?
Technology, no. Knowledge, we're close.
The biggest roadblocks are: 1) Incomplete genetic material. In the film, they tried to patch them. In RL, mixing reptile and amphibian DNA is a no-no. We don't yet have a machine fast enough to correctly patch a DNA strand, and until enough work is done in decoding the DNA itself, we won't know how to patch it in the first place. But, computers are getting ever faster, and DNA anyalisis is getting easier every day.

#2. Do you think that there is someone right now working to create a dinosaur?
Working, of course. Successfully? Not even close.

#3. Do you think we should create a dinosaur?
We? Who's we? Humans, as a spieces? Most of the world is either illiterate, lazy, supersticious, or just plain stupid. No. Humans as a spieces should not attempt to interact with a higher life-form.
Will it ever be done? Sure. But it will be left lonly in it's cage. Occasionally thrown a cow carcass or stabbed with needles and probes. When it dies, it will be studied, and one of the Guys In Lab Coats™ will write a book about it. Public opinion will be the same as the Dolly Case. A 6-day media sensasion followed by late-night talkshow jibes.
After a month, noöne will care. Why? They will find out that dinosaurs had feathers. The Masses won't like that. It's against what they saw on TV. TV's a powerful medium. The Populous wouldn't feel comfortable questioning it, so they will ignore the fact and go back to the drudgery that is human life.
As for moral issues...the whole "Man plays God" and "creating a threat to all mankind" B.S., screw it. Noöne but you cares about your opinion on wether pumping the stomach of a mosquito post mortum and sticking in an egg cell is going to tear asunder 200 years of scientific "truth" 2000 years of Christian "truth" or 2 million years of moral "truth." Why doesn't anyone care? Because they'd rather watch Super Size Friends and Survivor and Who Want's to Kiss a Millionare's Ass et cetra ad nauseum.

Besides, recreating dinosaurs is small potatoes.
Wait 'till the Guys In Lab Coats™ start playing mix-n-match with various species. Who says Mirri's just a character? With a little creative chemistry, we can whip up Cat Warriors by the baker's dozen.

But first, they'll make Triumph, Insult Comic Dog real. :)
 
D

Daggertooth

Guest
I couldn't have said it better than hetemti.

The moral/Ethical issues of genetic engeneering will stunt the progress of that science for years to come. Do you think animal rights activists will allow Mirri style creatues to be born? No, they'd rather destroy it than let a monstosity like that loose.


The scaryest thing about Genetic engeneering is not the Ethical, Should we do it, BS. It is the Devastation Genetic Engeneering can cause. Gene Specific Virus or Bacteria can Assasinate specific people or actualy commite Genocyde. That is assuming that some freak accident dosn't destroy the population first. Now just so ya'll know, I'm not against genetic engeneerint. Although this science worries me sometimes, I will be the one that perfects the Gene Specific Virus. Why? I bet you can guess.

Daggertooth
 
A

Apollo

Guest
#1. Do we have the technology and knowledge to create dinosaurs?

No. As far as you know.

#2. Do you think that there is someone right now working to create a dinosaur?

Yes. Me. In my basement.

#3. Do you think we should create a dinosaur?

Yes. It would make a darn good pet. When my english teacher assigns too much homework, I'll say to my T-Rex (Spot for short) "Spot, go eat her." And that will be the end of that problem. Whenever he gets hungry, I'll take him to McDonald's. And he'll eat the workers, cause not even a dinosaur likes McDonald's food.

:)
 
Z

Zadok001

Guest
#1

Hemeti pretty much summed this up... The technology doesn't exist - Yet. Give it time.

#2

Duh, of course. Once Jurrassic Park came out in book form, dozens of people world-wide started similar projects doomed to failure. Jurrassic Park was media, therefore, people will try it. Of course, the whole theory in JP was BS, but hey, that won't stop the human race from trying the impossible. ("No, you CAN'T fly to the moon." "No, you CAN'T make color photos." "No, you CAN'T use more than 64k." (One of my very old friends told me that when I was younger...))

#3

Sure, why not. Should we, yes. Will we... Well, it depends on how long it takes the anti-cloning/genetic engineering army to strike it out in the Supreme Court. Make no mistake, this type of thing will be fought on legal turf for decades to come.
 
C

Chaos Turtle

Guest
#1 - Already answered. No, we don't have the technology. We do have the basics down, as far as knowledge goes, but the real understanding necessary is missing.
Since, as Hetemti pointed out, there almost certainly is no existing complete dinosaur DNA to clone from, genetic engineers would be forced to make "best guesses" as to what genes should go where. It would be a trial-and-error proposition for quite some time, and I'm afraid to imagine what sorts of things might be born in the meantime.

#2 - Maybe. Probably not, except in an eccentric-scientist sort of way. The possibilities of cloning more recently-extinct species (like the dodo) are more immediate, with a clear advantage in terms of profitability.

#3 - No. I don't really see the point of it, except for a "look what we can do" purpose.
I do expect, in time, that there will be some sort of genetically engineered animal, which might or might not be made to resemble small dinosaurs. They might also be made to look like Furbys. These will be sold as pets (toys, actually, since the live-animal trade is more heavily regulated; thus, more expensive).
I think that the next non-medical, non-food breakthroughs will lead to an era of mass-market bio-engineered playthings that will be very popular to the point that they eventually become common.

And after pets, people. Rather, domestic service devices. People made without free will or feelings -- and made to look unlike "normal" people, of course, to avoid any unpleasant creepy feelings by consumers -- for the purpose of doing day-to-day drudge work. For rich people, naturally, with later models priced for middle-class use.

Forgive me if that seems a little bit Bladerunner-esque, but I think that's the inevitable result. Money makes the world go 'round, as the saying goes...and that won't change.
 
H

Hetemti

Guest
An addendum to Daggertooth's mentioning of GenEng Viruses.

In Austrailia, they were working on GenEnging something...I forget what, exactly, but it matters not, every time they brought something to Austrilia to eliminate one pest it 1) did not do what they wanted it to do, and 2) Became more of a pest than the original problem...anyway...they made a new virus! Yea! It's a lot like Polio except for two little details: It's EXTREMELY contagious, and noöne knows how to destroy it! Estimates are if ONE person infected by it left the continent, it'd kill EVERY HUMAN in the modern world (A few Amazon tribes might...just might survive) within a few years.

They say it's part of human nature, the tendency to destroy itself. No...that's not quite right. It's a tendency to destroy itself in the most unbelievable way possible.

Maybe they'll make a few dinosaurs at the time the new virus kills the human race and they can reclaim the earth as their own...at least they won't kill themselves off.
 
D

Daggertooth

Guest
If creating evil viruses wasn't enough, There's a whole stock of ellements created to "benefit" mankind that will help in its downfall.

one of them are the so called "Super Bugs" (I hate that term) These guys are immune to everything. It's just a matter of time before a terrible strain of it well cause mass havock through our population. Kinda like Black Death.

another thing is Geneticaly engeneering Food. I've read somewhere that corn has been altered againt insects so much that is can be classified as a pesticide. Now you can't wash the genes out of your food. Also, The population of Marnarchs that reside by a corn field has dropped significantly. There is evidence that seems to state that it the populations reducton is due to the pollon of the corn that get airborn and land on the marnarchs only food sorce. Now I'm not sure what research is being done here, I just know that there is a direct correlation between the two.

I do believe that its okay to do genetic engeneering, but its not a toy. You can't just do a little short term research then let loose your discoveries when all you have is specific information over a short period that look promicing. too often scientist try to prove their own narrow minded point without considering what happens in the next 30-50 years.

The end is near my friends. I wouldn't be surprised if the human race was decimated in the next 100 years.

Daggertooth
 
M

Multani

Guest
On the bright side, none of us will have to worry about what Daggertooth said. :D
And about the virus, I bet that some rich enviromentalist is planning to wipe out the human race with a contagious virus, and then give themselves the antidote and play "nature's observers".
(Yes, I've read Rainbow Six.)
 
D

Daggertooth

Guest
Hey!!!!:mad: Thats my plan, Only I don't intend on giving myself the antidote:)

Acctualy the only real way to fix our contaminated gene pool is to create a gene specific virus that will eliminate the bad gene. Of course that means a few billion people will have to die, but thats progress. :)


Daggertooth
 
M

mogg bomber

Guest
#1. Do we have the technology and knowledge to create dinosaurs?

Not really, but we're getting there. The real problem is that there is no way of getting dinosaur DNA in high enough quantities to do anything with. However, other extinct animals(dodo,tasmanian tiger, etc.) could possibly be brought back without too many problems.

#2. Do you think that there is someone right now working to create a dinosaur?

Of course, people have been working on this for years. Many interesting discoveries have come out of this work too. For example, most scientists believe that birds and dinosaurs are related. It's possible to activate currently unused genes in a chicken to give it a dinosaur-like tail. I'm sure that this type of research has only increased since Jurassic Park, and will continue to increase as cloning technology increases.

#3. Do you think we should create a dinosaur?

Now this is an interesting debate. I think it would be wrong to try bringing back dinosaurs for entertainment, and I really don't think they should put a bunch of them on some uninhabited island either(realistically, where would you put them?). However, science should definately take the chance to bring them back, to at least study them, just for all of the amazing knowledge that could be learned.(because we really can't tell much from just bones, footprints, etc.)


While we're on the subject of Jurassic Park, please anyone who has not read this book do so. It is much, much better than the movie(which was not bad)
 
M

mogg bomber

Guest
Originally posted by Hetemti
After a month, noöne will care. Why? They will find out that dinosaurs had feathers. The Masses won't like that. It's against what they saw on TV. TV's a powerful medium. The Populous wouldn't feel comfortable questioning it, so they will ignore the fact and go back to the drudgery that is human life.
[/B]
Click to expand...
Hopefully this will change soon, though. I mean, dinosaurs with feathers have only been discovered in the last 10 years or so. It unfortunate that the majority of the world's population is so uninformed though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top