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Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

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Re: Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

#91

Post by LearnYouALisp »

motohagiography wrote: post #58
didibus wrote: post #16

The thing is, what if there's an even better horse out there? Once you get on the cloning bandwagon, don't you also lock yourself out of looking/evolving an even better horse?

The way to determine how you know if you have picked the best horse to clone would be the secretary problem[1] for optimal stopping. This is somewhat plausible among polo horses because of the artificially small population size of pedigreed and trained horses. The simple version of the problem is you ride about 1/e of the total population and then the first one that is better than all previous ones is your best optio…

*the Secretariat puzzle

Re: Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

#92

Post by LearnYouALisp »

SauntSolaire wrote: post #85
vitally3643 wrote: post #79

Since we've reached this point, it seems like the next logical step would be to standardize the genomes allowed just like racing standardizes the vehicles (to a point, I know). It seems so much less interesting for the competition to devolve to "who can afford the best horse genome" instead of the actual skill and ability of the player. Since we're already cloning the horses, just force everyone to use the same horse…

The next actual step according to the article is genetically engineering the horse clones. They've already crispr'd five as proof of concept.

Are they doing transformer-training on the population?

Re: Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

#93

Post by Centigonal »

brookst wrote: post #55
didibus wrote: post #16

The thing is, what if there's an even better horse out there? Once you get on the cloning bandwagon, don't you also lock yourself out of looking/evolving an even better horse?

I’m reminded of the old “do you want the boat, or what’s behind the door? It could be anything, even a boat!” I’m not a polo player but in most games if you’ve already hit the 99.99th percentile, it’s not wise to roll the dice hoping to do better.

In sports, sometimes you think you've maximized the potential of the human body after decades of competition, and then you get surprised (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_100_metres_world_recor... )

Perhaps the same is true for horses.

Re: Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

#94

Post by joxdosba »

bonesss wrote: post #41
defrost wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only agree. Hard. It's less about the horse, the speed, the actual genetics - it's all about the process, the appearance, the gate-keeping. Country Clubs for horses (and cows, etc)

At some point moving up the luxury scale the price is less about product and more about buyer psychology. I can sell a ripped t-shirt, but that same product coming from an upscale exclusive boutique owned by so-and-so’s wife is participation in a whole ecosystem with lots of signalling to other buyers in the same financial strata.

> I can sell a ripped t-shirt, but that same product coming from an upscale exclusive boutique owned by so-and-so’s wife is participation in a whole ecosystem with lots of signalling to other buyers in the same financial strata

This is only true for the lower financial strata though. It’s only the poorer people for whom shopping in so-and-so’s wife’s boutique is a meaningful experience.

Re: Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

#95

Post by chrisandchris »

Centigonal wrote: post #93
brookst wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m reminded of the old “do you want the boat, or what’s behind the door? It could be anything, even a boat!” I’m not a polo player but in most games if you’ve already hit the 99.99th percentile, it’s not wise to roll the dice hoping to do better.

In sports, sometimes you think you've maximized the potential of the human body after decades of competition, and then you get surprised (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_100_metres_world_recor... ) Perhaps the same is true for horses.

Wasn't there a study whose result was that people are not actually running faster but the better results are mostly attributed to changing/improving grounds and better shoes?

Edit: Can't find the study anymore. This one [1] at least partially attributes to material.

[1] https://www.balticsportscience.com/journal/vol17/iss2/2/

Re: Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

#96

Post by imtringued »

thot_experiment wrote: post #78

I hope they're aware of this: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00945-7 You can't clone forever.

Isn't the flaw with this method that they are using non-reproductive cells? Who knows how many cell divisions those have gone through.

If you can make clones from early embyro cells, you've sidestepped the problem.

Re: Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

#98

Post by piltdownman »

SauntSolaire wrote: post #86
didibus wrote: post #16

The thing is, what if there's an even better horse out there? Once you get on the cloning bandwagon, don't you also lock yourself out of looking/evolving an even better horse?

They've already moved on to genetic engineering according to the article; no need to fuss with evolving a better horse when you can directly specify one. At some point breeding programs will mostly be useful for identifying new mutations to splice into the main branch.

Funny that despite Neuromancer's prophesying the ubiquity of gene-splicing in future culture, William Gisbon specifically discounted it in this instance. As per the Finn: "Arabs still trying to code 'em up from the DNA, but they always croak".

Re: Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

#99

Post by tstrimple »

chrisandchris wrote: post #95
Centigonal wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In sports, sometimes you think you've maximized the potential of the human body after decades of competition, and then you get surprised (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_100_metres_world_recor... ) Perhaps the same is true for horses.

Wasn't there a study whose result was that people are not actually running faster but the better results are mostly attributed to changing/improving grounds and better shoes? Edit: Can't find the study anymore. This one [1] at least partially attributes to material. [1] https://www.balticsportscience.com/journal/vol17/iss2/2/

Training has also evolved drastically over time at the highest end of athletics. Periodization, nutrition, recovery and the size of the talent pool being scouted are all occurring alongside the advances in materials and equipment. It would be difficult to separate them effectively.
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