Monstrous

Monstrous People => Mutants, clones and cyborgs => Topic started by: KubeSix on August 03, 2009, 09:14:00 PM

Title: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on August 03, 2009, 09:14:00 PM
What do you think of gene engineering? Say they find your child is going to be handicapped, they can change that by modifying its DNA. Scientists also think you could "turn on" certain genes and "turn off" others through brain injections.

Here's a good example: A weight loss gene.

A team found a gene that regulates weight loss and how much a person/animal eats. They think that in the near future, you could lose weight through brain injections, which would turn on, or express, those genes and give them a high priority in your body. They've tried it on mice, and it worked. Not only did it lose weight, but it also ate less.

Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXWHkvtMPVw#noexternalembed (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXWHkvtMPVw#noexternalembed)

Don't like your natural hair color? Hell, just get a shot... :wink:

This gene seems to be what's making "fast metabolisms" lose weight faster and gain it slower... (Lucky me, I hate shots... Looks like I'll never need it :-P)
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: lockesk on August 11, 2009, 08:58:48 PM
i think if it was absolutely necessary. for example diabetes or alhzheimers because bothe are hereditary but to start to genetically change everything thats just ridiculouse
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Ryobi on August 11, 2009, 09:26:26 PM
If it would be treated as a kind of plastic surgery, except on a cellular level, then I'm against it. The reason being, a person usually would commit to appearance altering surgery because they are uncomfortable with how they look, this is a mental problem not a physical problem and by allowing such a person to do this, it doesn't necessarily solve the underlying problem. As a medical tool however, it could save a lot of lives, which is both good and bad.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on August 11, 2009, 09:50:44 PM
If it would be treated as a kind of plastic surgery, except on a cellular level, then I'm against it. The reason being, a person usually would commit to appearance altering surgery because they are uncomfortable with how they look, this is a mental problem not a physical problem and by allowing such a person to do this, it doesn't necessarily solve the underlying problem. As a medical tool however, it could save a lot of lives, which is both good and bad.

Right.

It could be useful if, say, the person has a hereditary illness as lockesk said, but to use it like people use plastic surgery... For some people, the weight loss thingy could be useful, say they absolutely need to lose weight soon or they'll die. But then, if someone were to use it just because they don't want to go on a diet, they'd just learn to become lazy and eat all they want without growing overweight.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Ryobi on August 12, 2009, 01:40:04 AM
Definitely, being able to quicken a persons metabolism would be useful, however it doesn't really promote a healthier lifestyle. Having a fast metabolism doesn't mean you can eat whatever you like or sit around forever instead of excersising.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Raziel on August 12, 2009, 01:44:33 AM
Too many people are looking at this the wrong way.
See if we look at this from a totally amoral point of view, we can see that we may eventually work in some animal dna.

Who doesn't want actual cat eyes and ears, Slinky sexy jaguar tails, Real life fur on their bodies(never be cold again!)
Jagged claws and expanded physical attributes.

And that's just for cosmetic changes. When the lines between animals and humans blur, imagine the kinds of environments our species could survive on!
Aquatic scaly babes living underwater, dolphin men life guards. Trained Genetically altered whales to deliver massive loads without wasting massive amounts of cash, eating plankton!

Flying angelic bird frea.....-Bird Men! and women soaring the skies dropping the biggest bird crap you've ever seen, were-wolves running to and fro dry humping..... uh... trees!, Ninja monkey people living in sustainable green tree cities.  

We'd also respect nature more, love each other (and probably eat some others but that's OK, they're just dumb animals), and  think of all the furries we'd make happy.
Bestiality will no longer be considered a crime!

hell , all the cos play geeks will be as close to the real deal as their budget allows!

Then racism and prejudice will be the least of our dying civilization's problems. The lovely anarchistic chaos.

(yes, part attempt at being the devil's advocate and part satire. sue me)
(Ok time for my actual post)

BUt seriously, Gene therapy is a long way from allowing people to freely change DNA sequences to whatsoever they please, there stands the matter of acquiring approval from the various governments, research groups, international councils, religious institution......etc....
We don't need to worry about this subject for a good long time. cause by the time it gets accepted as ethical, safe and commercially acceptable, it will be so goddamned  watered down,controlled and subsidized, that we'd be better off getting tatto's.

And sure the possibility of   people altering their genetic make up opens up some interesting options.
Augmented strength, perfect vision, hair color, athletic ability, built-in immunization and resistances to diseases,viruses and most sicknesses. Hell, what about intelligence augmentation and   even psychic powhaz! The possibilities are nigh endless if we are able to unlock the secrets of the building blocks of life.



However. the price we are going to pay is steep. Some GM plants may destabilize the environment,  endanger health due to built in pesticides, fast growing ones take too much nutrients from the soil. Whats to keep GM Man from being treated like a freak? The golden haired blue eyed Nazi dream  Aryan come to life! People would act irrationally as usual, Making scenes we last though were part of days past. Protests, doomsday pickets.
HOw long would it take a rally of angry protesters wielding picket signs full of  religious nonsense twisted to bring hate upon those that use these products.
They are of course an annoying minority. :focus:

we Arn't talking about growing Uberhumans yet. So lemme back track.

This  tech is playing with life. We must make sure that we have all our bases cleared before mass producing such potentially volatile science as a cosmetic.
There is a pretty big market for it though so its bound to happen sooner or later.

Faster metabolic rates would require an overhaul of the entire body to ensure that there is no rejection of the new genetic data right? Just asking.

There. short and well... short.



Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on August 12, 2009, 01:54:18 PM
Yeah, it's bound to happen, if not publicly, at least for medical and governmental purposes. But playing with life to make life better isn't as bad as some may think. It's actually ok, imo. But losing weight overnight on a McDonald's diet isn't right XD

I wouldn't mind a different hair color and eye color :3 Cat eyes? Wings? sure, why not :-P The only one I'm really against is the weight loss actually...
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Levinthross on August 25, 2009, 03:22:24 AM
ther only thing i would be concerned for is genetig stagnation and what it would do to human spitituality and mentality
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on August 25, 2009, 12:02:20 PM
Genetic stagnation as in what? That it becomes overused and just another commercial product or that our genes get corrupted and we start having more and more problems?
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Raziel on August 26, 2009, 08:51:55 PM
No. Genetic stagnation as in due to the continuous advancement of our tech and the rising standards of living, evolution would inevitably stop working due to the lack of stress on our species.


Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on August 27, 2009, 05:03:26 PM
Oh, okay. Yeah, that could be a problem... But by the time we would actually have evolved significantly, who knows, maybe we won't even be using technology anymore
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Ryobi on August 28, 2009, 05:53:57 AM
Was talking about this in Biology today, apparently one of the major concerns is to do with where scientists get the stemcells from in the first place. They 'grow babies' then kill them at 8 weeks and harvest the cells.

This is what I've heard.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on August 29, 2009, 10:32:50 PM
Was talking about this in Biology today, apparently one of the major concerns is to do with where scientists get the stemcells from in the first place. They 'grow babies' then kill them at 8 weeks and harvest the cells.

This is what I've heard.

Actually, they've also been merging human and pork cells together so the pork gets pregnant with a baby that has stem cells functional for the human body and by doing that, they're not killing a human baby... Not much better, though... (That's a rough description, I'm not sure if that's exactly what they're doing, but it was something like that)

Stem cells would be great progress for science and life as a whole, but the only source is a living organism. I was talking about this with my brother yesterday.. Using unconscious clones, we wouldn't have to worry about such things. (I mention the same thing in the zombie dog thread, but o well) Basically, you grow 'empty bodies' that don't have a functioning brain and so, aren't really alive. It would be like an endless organ and body transplant farm and they could even harvest stem cells...
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Kadesh on August 30, 2009, 10:08:27 AM
 You realize that if these injections really do come out, we're going to have even more crazy-asses celebrities running around?? Who, but the rich, are going to be able to afford that?
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on August 30, 2009, 12:31:31 PM
In the beginning, nobody. But as time passes by, it will become more and more accessible. After all, the gene injections were first researched for purely medical purposes.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Kadesh on August 30, 2009, 01:12:12 PM
 Anything that's taken for good will be corrupted. It's the way the world is.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Ryobi on August 30, 2009, 02:16:34 PM
I'm sure that the new skin grafting procedures, clone your own skin cells and then excelerate their growth until a sizeable amount of new skin is produced. No anti-rejection drugs for the rest of your life.

Also, they believe they could stop many people who break their necks from becoming paraplegics if they get to accident in quick enough time because they now have a series of injection that can reseal the nerve endings cut off when the person broke their neck.

Those kinds of advancements in medicine could truly help the world, however it would lead into over-population. I guess everything needs a balance of pro and con.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Kadesh on August 30, 2009, 02:35:43 PM
 Too bad we just can't weed out the stupid people like the lions do in Africa.  :roll:
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Ryobi on August 30, 2009, 02:39:08 PM
Too bad we just can't weed out the stupid people like the lions do in Africa.  :roll:

Kadesh dear, that's the slow runners not the stupid people...
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Kadesh on August 30, 2009, 02:40:00 PM
 Stupid or weak zebra's. I didn't mean the lions were hunting people.  :-P
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on August 30, 2009, 04:53:45 PM
Those kinds of advancements in medicine could truly help the world, however it would lead into over-population. I guess everything needs a balance of pro and con.

Good point you got there.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Ryobi on August 30, 2009, 09:44:47 PM
Stupid or weak zebra's. I didn't mean the lions were hunting people.  :-P

Man I'm slipping into bad thought territory, more and more these days  :-D
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Kadesh on August 30, 2009, 09:47:58 PM
 Welcome to the dark side, Ryobi. LOL!! It's nice here... we have fuzzy Uncle Momo.... crazy Uncle Raz, who likes to take people down to Uncle Touchy's Naked Basement.... so be careful there...
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Raziel on August 31, 2009, 10:05:24 AM
Call me Uncle crazy again and i'll slit your fallopian tubes.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Ryobi on August 31, 2009, 01:59:58 PM
Welcome to the dark side, Ryobi. LOL!! It's nice here... we have fuzzy Uncle Momo.... crazy Uncle Raz, who likes to take people down to Uncle Touchy's Naked Basement.... so be careful there...

Dw Desh bro, I have nooo intention of going into that house and entering the dark side. I quite like it out here in the sun.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Raziel on August 31, 2009, 04:37:15 PM
Yeah! the dark may have cookies but the bright and sunny has Orange Juice and severed Fallopian tu-I mean fresh cut spring flowers! ^_^
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Kadesh on August 31, 2009, 06:22:33 PM
 Ryobi... You lost me at "Dw Desh, bro" ...... can anyone translate?? And does this mean I'm old??  *<:)
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on August 31, 2009, 06:33:40 PM
Ryobi... You lost me at "Dw Desh, bro" ...... can anyone translate??

Same here XD I didn't know "Dw" was a word O_O
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Ryobi on August 31, 2009, 11:09:48 PM
Ryobi... You lost me at "Dw Desh, bro" ...... can anyone translate?? And does this mean I'm old??  *<:)

"Don't worry Kadesh my friend"
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Kadesh on September 01, 2009, 06:48:50 AM
 OOHHH!!! Well, ok then.  *<:)  And it's ok to go into the house.... I like to visit, but I have to have my sunlight or I really will go crazy.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Levinthross on October 05, 2009, 01:44:36 AM
first off the amount of gene manipulation you would have to do to make a possibly brainless clone with viable stem cells is faaaaaaaaaaaaar from aaccomplishable right now
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: KubeSix on October 05, 2009, 08:07:21 PM
first off the amount of gene manipulation you would have to do to make a possibly brainless clone with viable stem cells is faaaaaaaaaaaaar from aaccomplishable right now

Not brainless, brain dead.

And you don't need a full clone for stem cells; a fetus does the job quite nicely. If you take a full clone, it's already formed and it's useless unless you plan on taking the organs. (Or a full-body transplant, but now that is far from our technological reach.)
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Levinthross on October 16, 2009, 06:25:48 PM
well for the sae of argument there the same thing the amount of genetic manipulation to affect the most complex organ of the body which in humans has nowherenear been developed to full capacity and for damm sure is nowhere near studied close enough or known about enough to go fooling with  to make the mindles s bodys for like full brain surgery i think that you would be eludint to.
THen why use stem cells if there genetically altered the reasons scientist use rthem is because they can become aaaannnny body cell.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Moloch on October 17, 2009, 05:10:21 AM
Was talking about this in Biology today, apparently one of the major concerns is to do with where scientists get the stemcells from in the first place. They 'grow babies' then kill them at 8 weeks and harvest the cells.

I wish she were still around so that she could tell me who the fark told her that crock of s**t.

Scientists would not be at all ok with killing a viable human fetus in order to harvest stem cells. What they do is gather stem cells from aborted fetuses, hence the uproar about the whole deal. They have since made advancements which allow them some lee way with harvesting, namely the ability to grow them without the need of an embryo.
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Levinthross on October 18, 2009, 02:19:06 PM
how exactly wouyld you grow stem cells without a embryo?????
Title: Re: Gene engineering
Post by: Kadesh on October 19, 2009, 05:58:51 AM
 Very carefully?