Why do we insist on trying to play god?

[Bucky]

If you haven't heard, Colossal Biosciences is a biotech company trying to bring back to life extinct species.

They have plans to resurrect the Woolly Mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and the dodo.

First, this is a colossal waste of money. I am not sure what the point of bringing back extinct species is instead of protecting endangered species. What is the purpose? How does it benefit society in a positive way?

Secondly, it is highly unethical. Species like to dodo are extinct for a reason. They have no purpose in the ecosystem and could potentially cause a great disturbance to the ecological nature.

Some of these species haven't roamed the earth for over 3,000 years!

I think it is INSANE to try to play god or enact fantasies of creating a Jurrasic park!

 

[Loulit01]

First, bringing back extinct species would possibly be very lucrative.

Second, they think they can do some good.

Resurrected mammoths could be roaming the Arctic by 2030

Scientists are breeding ‘mammoth elephant’ hybrids which could help to stop permafrost thawing in the Arctic.

www.euronews.com

 

[Ug make hammer]

If you haven't heard, Colossal Biosciences is a biotech company trying to bring back to life extinct species.

They have plans to resurrect the Woolly Mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and the dodo.

First, this is a colossal waste of money. I am not sure what the point of bringing back extinct species is instead of protecting endangered species. What is the purpose? How does it benefit society in a positive way?

Why are you casting doubt on a private sector company for talking up something that probably won't amount to anything?

Hate private enterprise now, Bucky?

Secondly, it is highly unethical. Species like to dodo are extinct for a reason. They have no purpose in the ecosystem and could potentially cause a great disturbance to the ecological nature.

What bullshit. Any woolly mammoths or dodos which they do manage to re-create, won't be let loose to fend for themselves in the wild. They will be in zoos where people pay to see them.

In the case of the Tasmanian tiger, or even the dodo, they wouldn't "disturb" ecosystems so much as help restore them. Maybe the thylacine ("tasmanian tiger") wouldn't stand up against feral cats and dogs, but maybe it would and that would reset rather than disrupt Tasmanian ecology.

Some of these species haven't roamed the earth for over 3,000 years!

I think it is INSANE to try to play god or enact fantasies of creating a Jurrasic park!

Well it's good to hear you have some opinions outside politics. But bringing it back to politics: do you think private enterprise should be forbidden to "play god" with extinct species?

 

[The Mark]

If you haven't heard, Colossal Biosciences is a biotech company trying to bring back to life extinct species.

They have plans to resurrect the Woolly Mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and the dodo.

First, this is a colossal waste of money. I am not sure what the point of bringing back extinct species is instead of protecting endangered species. What is the purpose? How does it benefit society in a positive way?

Secondly, it is highly unethical. Species like to dodo are extinct for a reason. They have no purpose in the ecosystem and could potentially cause a great disturbance to the ecological nature.

Some of these species haven't roamed the earth for over 3,000 years!

I think it is INSANE to try to play god or enact fantasies of creating a Jurrasic park!

Ain't no god playing here.

Just science.
And the reason for testing dangerous things is to know the limits, because someone someday will try to use them with ill intent.

 

[Bucky]

In the case of the Tasmanian tiger, or even the dodo, they wouldn't "disturb" ecosystems so much as help restore them. Maybe the thylacine ("tasmanian tiger") wouldn't stand up against feral cats and dogs, but maybe it would and that would reset rather than disrupt Tasmanian ecology.

Look at deer. How many deer cause car accidents because they are overpopulated? Should we resurrect the Irish Elk so they can cause more havoc on human drivers?

Perhaps we should resurrect the eastern puma or saber-tooth so they can take out the deer population, preventing less human death?

 

[Bucky]

First, bringing back extinct species would possibly be very lucrative.

Second, they think they can do some good.

Resurrected mammoths could be roaming the Arctic by 2030

Scientists are breeding ‘mammoth elephant’ hybrids which could help to stop permafrost thawing in the Arctic.

www.euronews.com

Very lucrative, how? So we can build more zoos like Jurrasic Park? That sure went well.

They can do some good or some bad. Look at what bringing the mongoose had done for Hawaii's ecology.

 

[reflechissez]

Very lucrative, how? So we can build more zoos like Jurrasic Park? That sure went well.

They can do some good or some bad. Look at what bringing the mongoose had done for Hawaii's ecology.

 

[spud_meister]

If you haven't heard, Colossal Biosciences is a biotech company trying to bring back to life extinct species.

They have plans to resurrect the Woolly Mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and the dodo.

First, this is a colossal waste of money. I am not sure what the point of bringing back extinct species is instead of protecting endangered species. What is the purpose? How does it benefit society in a positive way?

Secondly, it is highly unethical. Species like to dodo are extinct for a reason. They have no purpose in the ecosystem and could potentially cause a great disturbance to the ecological nature.

Some of these species haven't roamed the earth for over 3,000 years!

I think it is INSANE to try to play god or enact fantasies of creating a Jurrasic park!

Humanity giveth, and humanity taketh away, or the other way around. The anthropic extinction of predators and megafauna has had a deleterious effect on many ecosystems, and there's a good argument to be made that reintroducing extinct keystone species can have positive impacts on endangered species. Reestablishing Thylacine populations in Tassie would slow the defoliation of native forest by Brushtail Possums, especially in the face of Devil population declines, which would have a positive impact on endangered species like the Yellow-bellied Parrot. Reintroducing mammoths on the Siberian tundra would convert it from the current, post-anthropocene moss and shrub biome back to grassland, which would slow permafrost thaw and sequester far more carbon.

 

[Ug make hammer]

Look at deer. How many deer cause car accidents because they are overpopulated? Should we resurrect the Irish Elk so they can cause more havoc on human drivers?

No, you should stop hunting wolves.

Perhaps we should resurrect the eastern puma or saber-tooth so they can take out the deer population, preventing less human death?

The puma yes, the sabre-tooth no. You have to consider that the ecosystem has accomodated extinctions long ago, but is not yet adjusted to more recent (human-caused) extinctions.

You mixed them all up in your OP, and you really need to explain what harm would be done by the re-introduction of the dodo. That bird can only survive in an ecosystem where there are no large predators, and no egg-eating reptiles or mammals. That only applies on a few Pacific islands, so any fears about dodos "overbreeding" to the detriment of other species are ill-founded.

Furthermore, I expect dodos are delicious. Why do you hate private enterprise?

 

[Ug make hammer]

Humanity giveth, and humanity taketh away, or the other way around. The anthropic extinction of predators and megafauna has had a deleterious effect on many ecosystems, and there's a good argument to be made that reintroducing extinct keystone species can have positive impacts on endangered species. Reestablishing Thylacine populations in Tassie would slow the defoliation of native forest by Brushtail Possums, especially in the face of Devil population declines, which would have a positive impact on endangered species like the Yellow-bellied Parrot. Reintroducing mammoths on the Siberian tundra would convert it from the current, post-anthropocene moss and shrub biome back to grassland, which would slow permafrost thaw and sequester far more carbon.

Great post. I wasn't aware of the Brushtail Possum problem in Tasmania. They were imported from the mainland, right?

 

[VySky]

Very lucrative, how? So we can build more zoos like Jurrasic Park? That sure went well.

They can do some good or some bad. Look at what bringing the mongoose had done for Hawaii's ecology.

Yea. Let’s bring back a species so we can throw it in a zoo. How endearing.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Yea. Let’s bring back a species so we can throw it on a zoo. How endearing.

Or maybe, just stay with me here, some sort of park.

 

[The Mark]

Yea. Let’s bring back a species so we can throw it on a zoo. How endearing.

It would kinda be on brand for humans though.

 

[VySky]

Or maybe, just stay with me here, some sort of park.

Zoo.

 

[TheGoverness]

Very lucrative, how? So we can build more zoos like Jurrasic Park? That sure went well.

They can do some good or some bad. Look at what bringing the mongoose had done for Hawaii's ecology.

I don't know if your therapist told you this, but Jurassic Park is fiction.

Meaning, not real.

 

[TheGoverness]

Or maybe, just stay with me here, some sort of park.

*Points to science mammoths*

"They do move in herds!"

 

[Loulit01]

Very lucrative, how? So we can build more zoos like Jurrasic Park? That sure went well.

Problems with facts and fiction?

They can do some good or some bad. Look at what bringing the mongoose had done for Hawaii's ecology.

Yeah, I don't think they plan to let any animals run around free in fragile environments.

 

[Bucky]

Yea. Let’s bring back a species so we can throw it in a zoo. How endearing.

Or perhaps we can domesticate them like we did with cattle.

 

[spud_meister]

Great post. I wasn't aware of the Brushtail Possum problem in Tasmania. They were imported from the mainland, right?

No, they're native (massive introduced pest in New Zealand though). Their population has been controlled largely by Tasmanian Devils since the decline/extinction of the Thylacine, but since Devil numbers have plummeted due to infectious face cancers, they're largely unsupressed and can cause dieback in the native Eucalyptus forests.

 

[Loulit01]

I could be wrong but I think the OP's problem is less with the animals themselves and more with the idea of playing God.

 

[Ug make hammer]

No, they're native (massive introduced pest in New Zealand though). Their population has been controlled largely by Tasmanian Devils since the decline/extinction of the Thylacine, but since Devil numbers have plummeted due to infectious face cancers, they're largely unsupressed and can cause dieback in the native Eucalyptus forests.

Tasmania, New Zealand, you can see how I got them confused. Is it legal to hunt possums in Tasmania?

 

[Ug make hammer]

I could be wrong but I think the OP's problem is less with the animals themselves and more with the idea of playing God.

But we play God with genetic engineering. In fact, we play God just by selective breeding of plants and animals for specific characteristics.

Does the OP object to rose varieties or breeds of dog?

 

[The Mark]

I could be wrong but I think the OP's problem is less with the animals themselves and more with the idea of playing God.

The argument is essentially that if we change something, it's going against god's plan.

I think that's bullshit.

Humans changing stuff IS the plan, if one exists.

 

[VySky]

But we play God with genetic engineering. In fact, we play God just by selective breeding of plants and animals for specific characteristics.

Does the OP object to rose varieties or breeds of dog?

Actually humans were grafting plants 6000 years ago.

 

[VySky]

The argument is essentially that if we change something, it's going against god's plan.

I think that's bullshit.

Humans changing stuff IS the plan, if one exists.

This thread can quickly turn into a spiritual one. God controls everything. If he allows this to happen it’s for his will. We just don’t know that is.