Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!apple!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm
From: mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Human/Chimp Hybrids?
Message-ID: <34305@cup.portal.com>
Date: 27 Sep 90 06:10:52 GMT
References: <999@massey.ac.nz> <6284@bgsuvax.UUCP>
  <26689@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <3432@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
  <1990Sep25.175301.6426@cbnewsm.att.com>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 40

mls@cbnewsm.att.com (mike.siemon) says:

> The last major usage of such terms (untermensch und uebermensch, and the
> mentality that sees the world in terms of "inferiority" and its own
> "superiority" to the demands of human morality has sufficiently brought
> the terms into disrepute that any *contemporary* advocacy of such things
> had damn well better be prepared to give a good and compelling defense
> for pulling out those particular stops on the rhetorical organ.
>  
> "Destiny demands it" indeed!  And yes, I *am* calling proponents of such
> experiments (potential) Nazis, unless they can propose truly adequate
> controls to prevent moral abuses.  And given that we have a bad record
> of providing such controls within our *own* species, you've got a daunting
> task.

This is the typical -- 100% emotional -- argument always presented by
the opponents of genetic experimentation.  It's always NAZIS, NAZIS, NAZIS !!!
Even simple stuff like fixing a broken gene or implanting a few
fetal brain cells brings the would-be Jeremy Rifkins out of the woodwork.

What particular "moral abuses" do you have in mind?  Does the idea of
human/ape sex repel you?  Don't worry!  No one's likely to nominate you
to participate in the great experiment!  Only the fittest DNA will do!

Is it the idea the manufactured species would be exploited?  Are horses
exploited?  Are dogs and cats exploited?  If this technology could produce
a companion animal to man -- something like a dog, but 10 times better in
every way -- that would be an invention, a blessing, comparable to fire
or the wheel.

Is it fear that the manufactured species would be superior to us, would
replace us?  If so, I'm entirely in favor of it!  If we are so easy to
replace, we should be replaced!  If man is obsolete, he should be extinct!
That's evolution, pal!  If you can't stand the heat, get out of the gene pool!

I would feel greatly honored in helping to pass on the torch of science
to a superior replacement species.  And I wouldn't mind admitting a bit
of race-pride if that replacement species had at least 90% of human DNA.
Much better than bestowing such an inheritance on a metallosilicon robot
or a Mason jar full of nanocomputers.