Very cool, but is it ethical?
Mad Science means never having to ask “What’s the worst that can happen?”
The Dire Wolf Is Back
11–20 of 208 posts
Re: The Dire Wolf Is Back
#12Paywalled so I have to ask, why the dire wolf? Why not an animal that humans drove to extinction like the dodo bird? Is it because dire wolves sound cool and were in video games?
I'm guessing it's a mixture of practical concerns and something that captures the imagination of investors.
Re: The Dire Wolf Is Back
#13Very cool, but is it ethical?
This is a deeply philosophical question. But it's highly dependent on the circumstances of a particular animal's extinction. Is it ethical to resurrect the Wolly Mammoth into our current climate when it's significantly warmer than the climate of the Ice Age? Likely not.
Was a species hunted to extinction? Maybe restoring that population would ease our collective conscience to some minuet degree.
So maybe bringing back some of these species is being done so as an apologetic gesture? Perhaps out of hubris?
To be fair, we're notoriously cruel to the animals that we farm for mass food production and less directly to wild animals (when human activity destroys their habitat). Images of such farm operations might remind you of conditions imposed on alleged dissedents by dictatorial regimes. You know, those same conditions that are condemned as atrocious when imposed on humans by humans. And this kind of treatment is still absolutely prevalent today on humans and other animals.
Re: The Dire Wolf Is Back
#14Unrelated. The article uses the word "decimated". It seems to me a lot of people misinterpret the meaning of this word. It does not mean "kill 90%", but "kill on in every 10" aka 10%.
I would say it's more that they don't know the meaning of decimated. Or they don't know the original meaning of the word. Now when someone writes that a population was decimated they probably just mean it was massively reduced. I have also seen articles saying a sports team decimated their opponent, which in that context means the winning team won by a large margin.
Re: The Dire Wolf Is Back
#15I never realised the Dire Wolf was a real historical animal, not just a fantasy one like the Owlbear.
Re: The Dire Wolf Is Back
#16Unrelated. The article uses the word "decimated". It seems to me a lot of people misinterpret the meaning of this word. It does not mean "kill 90%", but "kill on in every 10" aka 10%.
Semi-related: very few people, even capable professional writers, use "disinterested" correctly.
Re: The Dire Wolf Is Back
#17Unrelated. The article uses the word "decimated". It seems to me a lot of people misinterpret the meaning of this word. It does not mean "kill 90%", but "kill on in every 10" aka 10%.
Meanings shift with time. The original meant that (doled out as a very harsh collective punishment by the Romans: groups of 10 would draw straws and be forced to kill the one who draw the short straw). Now it's meanining is more along the lines of 'severely reduced', where how much is 'severely' depends on the context.
indeed, this particular one though has the added complication of having part of it's meaning contained in the composition of the word.
It's usage is still changing, obviously , but for me it's a more difficult transition because of the 'deci'
Re: The Dire Wolf Is Back
#18Paywalled so I have to ask, why the dire wolf? Why not an animal that humans drove to extinction like the dodo bird? Is it because dire wolves sound cool and were in video games?
My guess is that it is indeed because they're charismatic megafauna.
Re: The Dire Wolf Is Back
#19Very cool, but is it ethical?
Ethically, how is it different from (say) Kentucky Kennels LLC trying to breed some Great Danes which drool less?
Re: The Dire Wolf Is Back
#20So disappointed that this isn't an article about the Grateful Dead