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science suks sometimes
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science suks sometimes |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia 
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Science Suks Sometimes And now we know for sure something sucks about those recent genetic 'hotflash' headlines. It really does suck when science screws itself up and all semblance of balance, yin-yang, becomes scrambled eggs. Do you know what really bothers me most though? That so many seem to readily accept that all this tinkering with life is bound to be beneficial. http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=68118 “Even as international cloning pioneer Hwang Woo Suk was defending his embattled stem cell research in Seoul on Friday, he asked the editors of Science magazine in Washington to retract his work” |
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Jaime Fradera Senior Member
since 2000-11-25
Posts 843Where no tyranny is tolerable |
Science only gives us tools. It is up to the rest of us to use or misuse those for the betterment or detrement of humanity. It took Fermi and lazar to unleash the power of atomic fission, but they're dead now. What we choose to do with what they taught us ain't their problem. Huggles from The Cross |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
so true, Jaime. And that's one reason why I am frustrated with what we do with the knowledge! We are often light years away from the truth and what we do with the information sometimes becomes something other than science. WAVING, huggles back atcha! |
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littlewing Member Rara Avis
since 2003-03-02
Posts 9655New York |
I knew I should never have answered that ad in the newspaper . . . (ok that was sick and wrong, couldn't help it) But this is sick and wrong, I have gotten into way too many heated "discussions" about this in classes. In my opinion, I do not agree with cloning whatsoever. In any situation. I mean, yes, science helps us, but Nature is supposed to do its own thing. That was so disturbing, that article. Who are these people that volunteer for this stuff, or are they saying the volunteers were quite obviously unaware of what they were volunteering for? |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
I think there are some legitimate uses for cloning, but the abuse of its potential is downright scary, and we are messin with mom so much already, what will the future hold? I cringe.... |
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littlewing Member Rara Avis
since 2003-03-02
Posts 9655New York |
Maybe I am unaware of the legit uses but yes scary is right . . . like this article and things like that - I picture all of us replaced by no thinking zombie people eventually . . . or has that already started to occur? *grin* |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
If recent, (historically speaking), generations had not messed with mom, many if not most of those reading these words would be already dead, if ever born . . . Read back into the not too distance past and you find biographies of lives that were at best much if not continuously in illness. There were more people alive in the last century than lived in all the previous ten thousand. That is a consequence of science. |
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majnu
since 2002-10-13
Posts 1088SF Bay Area |
i am a physicist and therefore belong to a community that has a unique perspective of what can happen when science goes nuts, in fact we are acutely aware of how wrong it can go. fermi, bohr, einstein, oppie, and many others who were as far above us as we are above ants lived to see the horrible applications of their work in japan, chernobyl, and many other lesser known incidents. not to mention the lasting effects of the possesion of such technology and the resulting paranoia. stem cells can lead to amazing new treatments for many debilitating conditions. conditions that 100 years ago would have meant death in childhood or earlier or simply death within months of the manifestation of symptoms. not to mention possible applications to many other conditions. but we need to be obsessive about regulation and oversight. physics led to the atom bomb, chemistry and older biology have led to nerve agents and biological weapons that while not getting much publicity are FAR more scary than even nuclear weapons (think stephen king's the stand - we have that type of weapon and are developing more). i don't know about any esoteric arguments based on difficult to justify ethics, or faith, or other arbitrary belief systems. all I know is that this stuff is dangerous and scary. -majnu |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
I understand your stand on this, John. Thank you, Zaheer, for that input. It is indeed scary, for inspite of their potential positive applications, we have often been careless in how we've used these 'gifts' of science. |
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