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Scientists create animals that are part-human
Posted: 5/2/2005, 8:07 am
by Axtech
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7681252/
Particularly worrisome to some scientists are the nightmare scenarios that could arise from the mixing of brain cells: What if a human mind somehow got trapped inside a sheep’s head?
We don't even come close to understanding how consciousness functions or even exists, yet here we are playing around with it.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 8:28 am
by xjsb125
Scary.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 9:07 am
by Korzic
Sometimes the only way forward is to learn.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 9:37 am
by Axtech
Learn from mistakes, you mean? They're experimenting with things they don't come close to understanding. I can see the use of splicing in human organs - transplants, etc (though morality comes into question ... what right do we have to give life to animals only to use them as organ farms?), but why the brain? They seem to be experimenting just to see what will happen, and what they can do. Dangerous curiosity, it would seem.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 12:12 pm
by nikki4982
I'm just not gonna comment in here at all. Cos yeah, I'm sure nobody wants to hear what I have to say about animal experimentation.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 12:33 pm
by closeyoureyes
This is, quite plainly, fucked up.
Like Nikki thats all i'm going to say. You can guess my opinion if you like.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 1:17 pm
by starseed_10
i'll go ahead and say this is the worst thing i've ever read in this forum...
damn
Posted: 5/2/2005, 3:09 pm
by nelison
I heard about this, but it was with rats, and apparently it is to help discover how certain mental diseases start. (I didn't read the article above, cause I'm short on time, so forgive me if i'm being broad, or if it's already been covered). I don't know where I stand on this, but if we're going to further research eventually it will have to come to this point I believe. The only way to understand something is to see it first hand. As much as that can be flawed cause tons of things can occur that shouldn't, it is true that seeing first hand is better than simply hypothesizing.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 3:52 pm
by Random Name
...Am I the only one that isn't surprised?
Posted: 5/2/2005, 4:44 pm
by nikki4982
Oh, I'm not surprised. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it, though.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 6:51 pm
by closeyoureyes
Yeah i'm not surprised either, just more horrified at the lengths humans go to hurt animals.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 8:34 pm
by Random Name
Yeah, but look at the lenghts humans go to hurt humans.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 10:37 pm
by closeyoureyes
Great! Our species is branching out to those less capable of defending themselves.
Scooooore.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 10:41 pm
by thirdhour
HOLY FUCK THIS IS SO FUCKED UP!
This kind of shit really scares me. Like, alot. Um, yeah. Fucking hell, I'm leaving this thread and never coming back.
Posted: 5/2/2005, 11:00 pm
by starseed_10
thirdhour wrote:HOLY FUCK THIS IS SO FUCKED UP!
Posted: 5/3/2005, 6:24 am
by Corey
I find this sort of stuff interesting.
We'll see how upset you all are after you have a family member's life saved as a result of research such as this.
I mean, preventing Parkinson's disease? How great would that be?
Posted: 5/3/2005, 7:03 am
by Random Name
One Shot Juanita wrote: Our species is branching out to those less capable of defending themselves.
What are you getting at here?
If your against animal testing then say that. What you just said happens with almost every other organism on the planet.
These experiments are not ideas people thought of for the soul purpose of hurting animals, they are for genetic testing. And of course people test on animals because they are lesser dominant life forms. Thats the whole point.
If you don't think we should be preforming any experiments on animals at all, say that. If you don't think this experiment is necessary in furthering scientific research, say that. If you think something should be done for animal rights, say that. But really, big animals killing smaller animals is called nature, that has nothing to do with human experimentation.
Posted: 5/3/2005, 8:25 am
by Axtech
Corey wrote:I find this sort of stuff interesting.
We'll see how upset you all are after you have a family member's life saved as a result of research such as this.
I mean, preventing Parkinson's disease? How great would that be?
But we don't come even close to understanding the consequences. What if, while playing around with puting human brains in other animals, we discover that it is possible to put a human
mind in a different body?
The fact is, we're toying with things we don't understand, all for the hope that sometime in the future we may be able to harvest organs from animals that aren't human (though, as I mentioned, we can't be sure we're not making humans with conscious minds in other bodies). Hearts, lungs, livers, fine. But if consciousness is related to any one physical body part, all signs point to the brain. We don't know, and there's no way of knowing, yet we're still experimenting with it.
Posted: 5/3/2005, 8:29 am
by Korzic
Random Name wrote:One Shot Juanita wrote: Our species is branching out to those less capable of defending themselves.
What are you getting at here?
If your against animal testing then say that. What you just said happens with almost every other organism on the planet.
These experiments are not ideas people thought of for the soul purpose of hurting animals, they are for genetic testing. And of course people test on animals because they are lesser dominant life forms. Thats the whole point.
If you don't think we should be preforming any experiments on animals at all, say that. If you don't think this experiment is necessary in furthering scientific research, say that. If you think something should be done for animal rights, say that. But really, big animals killing smaller animals is called nature, that has nothing to do with human experimentation.
QFT
Posted: 5/3/2005, 8:32 am
by Korzic
Axtech wrote:Corey wrote:I find this sort of stuff interesting.
We'll see how upset you all are after you have a family member's life saved as a result of research such as this.
I mean, preventing Parkinson's disease? How great would that be?
But we don't come even close to understanding the consequences. What if, while playing around with puting human brains in other animals, we discover that it is possible to put a human
mind in a different body?
The fact is, we're toying with things we don't understand, all for the hope that sometime in the future we may be able to harvest organs from animals that aren't human (though, as I mentioned, we can't be sure we're not making humans with conscious minds in other bodies). Hearts, lungs, livers, fine. But if consciousness is related to any one physical body part, all signs point to the brain. We don't know, and there's no way of knowing, yet we're still experimenting with it.
Its the ethics question all over again. If killing a child meant you'd cure cancer for the rest of the world would you do it? I wouldn't but some others would weight it up as 1 life vs millions and that the sacrifice was worth it. Who are we to say who is right?