Do Not Alter

In Memory of Douglas N Adams…

Whilst, as you know, science can be wonderful – such as the ongoing Deep Impact research ultimately aimed at better understanding the universe as well as identifying potential ways that we can protect our world from impacts – scientists can also become overconfident in the power of their world models to the detriment of their research and potentially the environment in general. 

For example, further to recent articles on screening embryos for cancer genes, it’s probably also worth noting that Jim Watson of DNA fame has advocated screening and termination for genes that flag a tendency towards “severe mental illness.”  Along with his own son, persons who would probably not have made it past the womb if such technology had been available and implemented in the past include: B Aldrin, H C Andersen, J Barrie, I Berlin, R Burns, W Churchill, S Clemens, F F Coppola, N Coward, R Davies, C Dickens, E Elgar, A Einstein, S Fry, P Gabriel, P Gauguin, V van Gogh, K Graham, G Greene, E Hemingway, G Holst, J Keats, E Leer, V Leigh, S Milligan, Michelangelo, E Munch, M Mussorgsky, I Nastase, I Newton, C Parker, N Pagett, J Pollock, C Porter, C Pride, S Rachmaninoff, A Rose, M Rothko, R L Stevenson, G Sumner, A Tennyson, L Tolstoy, T Waits, G F Watts, V Woolf, B Wilson and E Zola amongst many others (based upon an analysis of bibliographical and medical data performed by K R Jamison, an expert on severe mental illness).  You may have heard of some of these.

Similarly, whilst global warming has the potential to cause the extinction of mankind - along with tens of thousands of other predominantly “higher order” species (such as other primates, mammals, birds, and so on), genetic modification by humans is easily capable of inflicting far more damage upon the integrity and diversity of life itself – which could cause the extinction of millions of life forms, and take a billion years or more to repair.  The Genome project is vitally important, but not the manner in which many of its results are attempted to be used at this time.  Life has always survived major environmental changes and catastrophes through integrity and diversity. 

However, much of current genetic research is aimed at reducing or eliminating diversity, based upon spurious grounds supported by flawed models and arguments.  Just as research into cloning continues, the religious push to have everyone thinking in similar ways has been supplanted by a scientific push to remove that which deviates from the “normal” – essentially generating a monoculture (like the mythic Aryan race that the deeply religious Adolphus Schickelgrüber – that charismatic leader who lived beside a Benedictine monastery in childhood and wanted to be a priest – even adopting the Swastika from their coat of arms as his symbol - struggled so hard to re-establish.) 

Food for thought?