LS.RHK@MIT-EECS@sri-unix (11/17/82)
Human / non-human hybrids are fine if we have successful mutations, but would you like to be the one who has to kill a failure. Would this be considered murder (or half-murder)? Clearly, we can't try any hybrids until we can ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEE that we will get what we want. Practical hybrids are far off in the future when we will fully understand our DNA. Perhaps we never will reach this point of understanding (I hope). The suggestion of human / ETI hybrids makes an important assumption: life out there is based on carbon and DNA. I doubt that our DNA could be joined to work with the genetic material of a Si based life form. Even if we did make these hybrids, what makes you think that communication will be possible? Much of our speech comes from the mind and not our physiology. If a hybrid were made from the genes of a Frenchman and an Englishman, would he be bilingual? Furthermore, would he have tea and croissants or crepes and kidney pie? Would he drive on the left or right? Robert Kassel-------
LS.RHK@MIT-EECS@sri-unix (11/19/82)
You have me all wrong. I am not saying that we should not "play" with recombinant DNA. What I am saying is that we will never be able to understand our own DNA enough to perform the type of experiments you suggest. As far as birth defects go, many people who know that their child will have a birth defect abort the pregnancy because they feel it is not right to bring such an individual into the world. Furthermore, would you allow your wife to take DES knowing that it would harm your child? I think not. I am merely stating that we cannot experiment with DNA research in the same manner as we experimented with electricity. The risks outweigh the benefits. Robert Kassel -------