The Chimera Dilemma Manifested in Sheep 433
Rollie Hawk writes "While many limits on stem cell research exist in the United States, scientist are finding wants to straddle or at least blur the line between man and animal. It's not quite The Island of Doctor Moreau, but it's bringing a pantheon of ethical dilemmas, nonetheless.
The creation of chimeras, named for the mythical beast composed of parts from several different animals, has been in the news off and on for the last few months. The latest case involves around 50 sheep said to possess at least partially human organs.
These heavily modded sheep are growning human-like organs such as livers, hearts, and blood. All of these could eventually be close enough to the real thing to be harvested as replacements parts.
If that doesn't shock you, consider one other human organ that is being grown in some of these sheep: human brains. While it is doubtful that anyone would want a brain transplant from a human-sheep chimera, it does hold the possibility for doing brain research that would never be allowed on human beings.
That is, unless, the brains end up being too human. Just the possibility of a human mind bouncing around inside a sheep's head is a scary proposition."
Re:"Heavily modded sheep" (Score:3, Informative)
But sheep with human brains? How long until we have to tell farm animals to quit their jibber-jabberin'?*
*If you didn't get that, be thankful.
Re:Cannibalism (Score:3, Informative)
Re:This reminds me of the game "Inherit the Earth" (Score:2, Informative)
Come to think of it, it would have been a very interesting story. In the game, it becomes clear that some sort of underground computer network exists, which controls the weather. These Orbs are just terminals. Thats exactly what the designer said.
Now, what if some humans put themselves into some sort of cryosleep beneath the surface, ready to be reawakened when all signs of the virus are gone?
Just imagine... humans, while rebuilding their civilization, encounter the Morphs. A really weird close encounter of the third kind, with the humans being the advanced aliens.
Last but not least this game makes me wonder if our world is really as bad as many pessimists say. For the morphs, it appeared to be a miracle world. After playing through this game, seeing all those magnificent human constructions so empty, forgotten and desolated, somehow I just didn't want mankind to end like this.
Re:That's *COOL* (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, when wild animals used to large territories are placed in caged captivity (polar bears, lions, tigers etc...) they usually do [bornfree.org.uk] go mad [gobartimes.org].
Have you seen animals pacing up and down endlessly in their cages or biting at their bars; twisting their necks or rolling heads; vomiting or hurting themselves? All these are symptoms of animals being driven mad because of captivity. This madness, called 'stereotype behaviour' is caused due to removal of animals from their natural habitat, frustration, boredom, lack of life in normal social groups, excessive human control and no control on self. Caged big cats will often pace the same path again and again. Great apes and elephants may rock, sway or shift repeatedly from side to side. Other disturbed behaviour may include licking the walls and chewing the bars of their pens. The startling thing is that most of the animals in the zoos suffer from this terrible syndrome.