April 24, 2004

BESTING GOD B

GENETIC ENGINEERING, NANOTECHNOLOGY AND ROBOTICS

GENETIC ENGINEERING

1. Somatic Gene Therapy:

Humans:

1991: The first somatic gene therapy trials begin B the injection of foreign, modified genes into patients, such as those suffering from cystic fibrosis (p. 9).

2001: The first cures are reported (p. 9).

2. Stem Cell Research:

Animals:

2001: Transplanting stem cells from the intestine of rats into their severed spinal cord produces regeneration of the spinal cord nerves (pp. 130-131).

3. Genome Sequencing:

Humans:

2000: AToday, we are learning the languages in which God created life,@ declares President Bill Clinton upon the completion of the Human Genome Project (pp. 12-13, 17 and 70).

4. Cloning:

Animals:

1964: The first cloned frogs are produced (pp. 12 and 15).

1997: The sheep, Dolly, becomes the first cloned mammal (pp. xii and 12).

2001: The first cat clone is produced (p. 15).

A high school student clones a cow (p. 15).

2002: A chip automating nuclear transfer, the key step in cloning, is available (p. 15).

2003: Cloned cattle can be ordered over the Internet (pp. 15 and 146).

Cloned chicken embryos are supplied in bulk to chicken farmers (p. 16).

Humans:

2001: Cloned human embryos are produced and grow to the six-cell stage (pp. 18, 66, 145 and 180).

Between 2000 and 2001, patent applications in cloning and stem cell jump 300 percent (p. 165).

2002: ABaby Eve@ may be the first cloned child (pp. xi and 18).

5. Germline Genetic Engineering:

Animals:

1995: Flies with wings and legs coated with dozens of light-sensitive eyes, are produced (p. 24).

1997: The Aknockout mouse,@ born missing a specific gene, does not form the usual social hierarchy. It is the first gene shown to control social interaction (pp. 28-29).

1998: A mouse, Lucy, is the first animal to be born with a pair of artificial chromosomes B demonstrating that the insertion of a prepackaged chromosome into the genome, is possible (p. 19).

1999: A Asmart@ mouse is produced (p. 26).

2001: A rhesus monkey, ANDi, whose DNA contains jellyfish genes, becomes the first transgenic primate (pp. 17 and 24).

2002: A featherless chicken is produced. It does not need to be plucked before being sold (p. 58).

2003: Pigs whose DNA contains genes from a mouse and from bacteria, produce excreta low in phosphorus, and hence can be raised at a greater density per acre than can be done at present (p. 16).

Goats whose DNA contains spider genes, produce milk which contains super-strong silk (p. 106).

A rabbit whose DNA contains genes from a phosphorescent jellyfish, glows green from every cell in her body (pp. 16, 24 and 213).

Humans:

1953: James Watson and Francis Crick discover the double helix structure of deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) (pp. 7-8).

2002: AThe procedure would have a relatively high potential for inadvertent transfer to the germline,@ acknowledges researcher W. French Anderson, as he applies to the National Institutes of Health for permission to begin somatic trials on human fetuses (p. 125).

Fertility clinics routinely transfer embryos from the laboratory to women=s wombs. Short of posting an FBI agent with a microscope in every in-vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic in the country, it is impossible to know whether some of these embryos are clones (p. 128).

A leading fertility clinic offers pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for Afamily balancing@ B allowing people to chose the sex of their child (p. 135).

Two babies are born, each of whom have three Aparents@ B a sperm donor and two women B each having contributed to the egg (p. 19).

Human sperm is grown in rats (p. 18).

2003: ADesigner sperm@ is produced (p. 19).

An Aartificial uterine lining@ is produced (p. 19)

NANOTECHNOLOGY

1950: The first vacuum-tube computers are produced (p. 69).

1957: Sputnik lifts off into orbit (p. 69).

1969: Americans land on the moon (p. 69).

1981: The scanning tunneling microscope offers the first direct images of individual atoms (p. 79).

2001: A biological computer is produced. The computer consists of naturally occurring enzymes able to manipulate DNA. It can be programmed by choosing particular software molecules and mixing them in the solution. The number of these computers that can co-exist and compute in parallel, at room temperature, is 1,000,000,000,000 in a drop of aqueous solution the size of 0.1 milliliter (ml) (p. 66).

High school students build scanning tunneling microscopes as science fair projects (p. 83).

2002: A logic circuit which is 0.000,004 the size of the current silicon models, is built (p. 67).

2003: Nanofibers, nano-sun screen (with invisibly small zinc oxide particles), nano-scale transistors and prototype nanotube circuits, are available (pp. 79, 83 and 85).

A Atooth phone@ is unveiled (p. 106).

A radio-signal message is Ateleported@ in a laser beam (p. 106).

The disciplines of nanotube computing, optical computing, DNA computing, crystalline computing and quantum computing, are born (p. 70).

The discipline of nano-medicine is born, reviving hopes for immortality and a movement for Acryogenics@ (the freezing of corpses) (p. 147).

ROBOTICS

1920: The playwright Karel Capek coins the word Arobot@ (p. 105).

1960: The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) coins the term Acyborg@ B part human, part machine (p. 194).

1996: A computer, ADeep Blue,@ beats Gary Kasparov, the greatest chess player of all time (p. 77).

2000: A robot can Areproduce@ B produce a small contraption of plastic bars and ball joints, add a microchip and a motor to it, and let it crawl off on its own (p. 75).

2001: Robot airplanes fly across the Atlantic without incident (p. 75).

A robot car drives safely from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, across interstates and through traffic jams (p. 75).

The ASlugbot@ picks up garden slugs and stores them in a fermentation tank from which it produces its own electricity in order to function (p. 75).

2002: ANavigation heads@ which turn industrial vehicles B such as forklifts or floor cleaners B into robot-crafts, are on sale (p. 74).

A mechanical robot fish whose movements are controlled by the brains of an eel, is produced (p. 87).

Robots jump, dance and kick balls. Robot puppies and dolls, and child-size robots that walk, climb stairs and perform small household tasks, are on sale (pp. 74-75).

THE SCIENTISTS

GENETIC ENGINEERING

Lee Silver, professor, Princeton University, in 1997:

A[Eventually], the GenRich class and the Natural class will become... entirely separate species, with no ability to cross-breed, and with as much romantic interest in each other as a current human would have for a chimpanzee@ (in Remaking Eden, Avon, New York, 1997, p. 282; cited in McKibben pp. 38-39).

Michael West, CEO of Advanced Cell Technology, in 1998:

AThe dream of biologists is to have the DNA sequence... and... edit it the way you might a document on a word processor@ (p. 12).

Daniel Koshland, former editor of Science, in 1998:

AIs there an argument against making superior individuals?@ (p. 27).

Richard Dawkins, professor, Oxford University, in 2000:

APeople who object to research of this kind must explain exactly who would, in their view, be damaged by it. Phrases like >playing God= form no part of a valid argument@ (p. 43).

Joseph Rosen, professor, Dartmouth Medical School, in 2001:

A[We should demand permission] to sculpt the genotype... [Were I given permission by a medical ethics board], I would try to engineer a person to have wings@ (p. 25).

James Watson, co-discoverer the structure of DNA, president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, in 2002:

AGoing for perfection@ (p. 10).

Gregory Stock, professor, University of California at Los Angeles, in 2002:

AIn light of our yearnings for immortality, the underlying biology of aging may well be the first germline intervention to truly tempt us@ (in Redesigning Humans B Our Inevitable Genetic Future, New York, 2002, p. 150; cited in McKibben pp. 47 and 147).

NANOTECHNOLOGY

K. Eric Drexler, molecular physicist, Stanford University, author of Engines of Creation, in 1995:

AWhat we are talking about here is replacing our current physical technology for manufacturing with a whole new set of materials and devices that have far superior computational capacity and power. The closest thing we have seen to this type of transformation is the industrial revolution, and that comparison somehow doesn=t seem adequate. It=s very hard to imagine a future that will involve that much change...@ (pp. 79, 83).

ROBOTICS

Ray Kurzweil, inventor and entrepreneur, in 1999:

AThe emergence in the early 21^st century of a new form of intelligence on Earth that can compete with, and ultimately significantly exceed, human intelligence, will be a development of greater import than any of the events that have shaped human history@ (in The Age of Spiritual Machines, New York, 1999, p. 5; cited in McKibben pp. 68 and 76).

Hans Moravec, former director, Mobile Robot Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, in 1999:

ABiological species almost never survive encounters with superior species@ (in Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind, Oxford, England, 1999, p. 189; cited in McKibben pp. 68 and 155).

Rodney Brooks, former robotics engineer, Stanford University, in 2002:

AThose of us alive today, over the course of our lifetimes, will morph ourselves into machines@ (in Flesh and Machines B How Robots will Change us, New York, 2002, p. 212; cited in McKibben, pp. 68, 72 and 214).

THE CONVERGENCE OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES

Ian Pearson, futurologist, British Telecom, in 2000:

AHomo Cyberneticus [will soon emerge with a] full duplex link between man and machine... [In turn, this creature will merge with] Homo Optimus, [the genetically engineered] elite race of people who are smart, agile, and disease-resistant. [Together, they will form] Homo Hybridus [which will have no trouble displacing] Homo Ludditus@ (pp. 87-88).

Anna Foerst, theologian, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT, in 2001:

AEngineering [is] prayer... [The new technologies are] a sign of people trying to participate in God=s creativity@ (Remarks, Symposium, AAre we becoming an Endangered Species?,@ National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2001; cited in McKibben, p. 209)

Conclusions

Speed, Convergence and Arrogance: The exponential and increasing rates of change of these technologies, their convergence, and the grandiosity of scientists in their desire to create Aenhanced@ humans, make for a very uncertain future for life on earth as we know it now. One has to include, of course, the genetic engineering of plants which is not discussed here.

For Elites Only: None of these technologies is directed at helping the poor of the Third World. For them, only genetically modified agricultural products are made available B and these have the potential to destroy their local agriculture (see p. 137).

Besting God: All of these technologies are designed to improve the world which God has created. This is the end-point of what Western civilization calls Aprogress.@

Improving the Killing Arsenal: All these technologies will be used as weapons, as have all past technologies. In the wake of 9/11, the government requested the Biotechnology Industry Organization to report all available technology with potential use for developing biological weapons (p. 36).

References

All page numbers refer to:

McKibben, Bill, Enough B Staying Human in an Engineered Age (Owl/Henry Holt, New York, N.Y.), 2003.

For Lee Silver:

Silver, Lee, Remaking Eden B How Genetic Engineering and Cloning will transform the American Family (Avon, New York), 1997, p. 282.

***