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CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

cnet.com

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Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#11

Post by Haga »

nkozyra wrote: post #4
peteretep wrote: post #2

ITT: people who live in countries that aren’t ravaged by malaria share their vague feelings of doubt about whether or not getting rid of mosquitos is a good idea

If you've been personally affected by malaria your immediate impulse is do whatever it takes to stop it. But we know nothing comes for free, no good human deed goes unpunished. There's a lot of debate about whether destroying malaria-carrying mosquitoes would have any side effects whatsoever. Alternately, it may have some. I don't think your characterization is fair, in other words. Those of us in areas not immediate…

Can't we at least have backup plan to reintroduce?

Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#12

Post by Angostura »

peteretep wrote: post #2

ITT: people who live in countries that aren’t ravaged by malaria share their vague feelings of doubt about whether or not getting rid of mosquitos is a good idea

Absolutely! Let's not let decisions about irreversibly altering an ecological web raise even vague feelings of doubt.

Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#13

Post by petters »

wuschel wrote: post #9
peteretep wrote: post #2

ITT: people who live in countries that aren’t ravaged by malaria share their vague feelings of doubt about whether or not getting rid of mosquitos is a good idea

Classical ad hominem argument . Attack the people who make the immoral choice of thinking about the fact instead of blindly going forward and doing it, regardless of the cost. Perhaps it is worth to consider carefully before eradicating a species by any means? And perhaps it is worth to consider using a domain of technology - biotechnology - we have yet to understand better? Every tool comes with it's price, and so d…

If importing rabbits to Australia would have saved 500,000 lives annually, it would have been one of the best health-related things to happen to humanity.

(The eradication of this particular mosquito species is likely harmless, but that does not matter. We should do it even if it isn't)

Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#16

Post by wuschel »

petters wrote: post #13
wuschel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classical ad hominem argument . Attack the people who make the immoral choice of thinking about the fact instead of blindly going forward and doing it, regardless of the cost. Perhaps it is worth to consider carefully before eradicating a species by any means? And perhaps it is worth to consider using a domain of technology - biotechnology - we have yet to understand better? Every tool comes with it's price, and so d…

If importing rabbits to Australia would have saved 500,000 lives annually, it would have been one of the best health-related things to happen to humanity. (The eradication of this particular mosquito species is likely harmless, but that does not matter. We should do it even if it isn't)

Sorry, there are two separate questions here:

A) the use of a technology - a gene drive - we have no full control of in the wild

B) the act of eradication of a species

to help to lower the loss of human life in Malaria affected regions.

Your statement regarding the Australian ecosystem engineering is purely hypothetic. The import of alien lifeforms always had a detrimental effect on ecosystems, and often, as a second order effect, on humans as well.

It scares me how a lot of people think that it is not worth thinking and evaluating the use of a technology. Perhaps it is because they have no experience and knowledge in this particular domain of science?

Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#17

Post by greenhatman »

amelius wrote: post #6

Frightening question: what if this technology could be targeted not at species, but at races?

They'd have to abduct hundreds of thousands of people (or clone a bunch), edit their genes, and release them back into their countries of origin. And then it would take a few generations.

Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#18

Post by [deleted] »

nkozyra wrote: post #4
peteretep wrote: post #2

ITT: people who live in countries that aren’t ravaged by malaria share their vague feelings of doubt about whether or not getting rid of mosquitos is a good idea

If you've been personally affected by malaria your immediate impulse is do whatever it takes to stop it. But we know nothing comes for free, no good human deed goes unpunished. There's a lot of debate about whether destroying malaria-carrying mosquitoes would have any side effects whatsoever. Alternately, it may have some. I don't think your characterization is fair, in other words. Those of us in areas not immediate…

[deleted]

Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#19

Post by Tade0 »

amelius wrote: post #6

Frightening question: what if this technology could be targeted not at species, but at races?

You mean humans?

AFAIK human "races" are largely superficial biologically - there are some correlations, but weaker than the variability between individuals.

Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#20

Post by ekianjo »

nkozyra wrote: post #4
peteretep wrote: post #2

ITT: people who live in countries that aren’t ravaged by malaria share their vague feelings of doubt about whether or not getting rid of mosquitos is a good idea

If you've been personally affected by malaria your immediate impulse is do whatever it takes to stop it. But we know nothing comes for free, no good human deed goes unpunished. There's a lot of debate about whether destroying malaria-carrying mosquitoes would have any side effects whatsoever. Alternately, it may have some. I don't think your characterization is fair, in other words. Those of us in areas not immediate…

> There's a lot of debate about whether destroying malaria-carrying mosquitoes would have any side effects whatsoever. Alternately, it may have some.

There's nothing to be lost in doing a trial in an isolated area. The world is vast, we don't need to eradicate mosquitoes at the same time everywhere...

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