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CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

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Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#121
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no biological basis for the word race.

I find this meme annoying because it so often misses the point (as I'd argue it does in this particular discussion). Yes, races are largely a social concept. However, once society has defined races based on whatever phenotypes that are in fashion at the time, it turns out that yes, there is a biological and genetic basis for those phenotypes . It's conceivable that this biological basis could be targeted by some gene…

Not disagreeing per se, but I think we often underestimate how much of our definition of 'race' is based on context, separate from our genes, such as:

- where we see a person - who this person is with - what clothes the person wears - what a person smells like - body language - spoken language - the manner in which they speak (loud, soft, etc.) - the way they walk - all sorts of other cultural markers (like stance, eye contact, etc.)

I suspect that all these contextual, largely non-biological factors play a huge role in how we decide a person's race. Possibly so much so that the biological markers we do have available are mostly useless.

Please correct me if I'm wrong though; I am far from an expert in this area!

Re: CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species

#122
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is indeed horrible, and it is fantastic that so many resources are dedicated to find a solution to this travesty! Eliminating entire species deliberately, on the other hand, isn't really better. Yes, there is the us vs. them dilemma, and of course we should favour our own species if there's no other option, but this should be used as a last resort only. I wonder if there's anyone looking into using similar methods…

You'd open up another heap of ethical issues if we were to try adapting humans in such a way. Like the CRISPR babies that were born in China.

Indeed, but which is preferable? Genetic vaccination against malaria or extinction of an entire species who are also a victim of the same parasite?

Both can potentially have unintended and disastrous consequences hundreds of years into the future.

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