Pascale Soleil: artificialNaturewhat we make of lifeI wanna be...- August 27, 2002 ...your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Or woman. Whatever. From The Globe and Mail: Gecko feet are covered with millions of tiny setae, hairs only twice as long as a strand of human hair is wide. Each seta has 1,000 tiny pads on its tip, a tip that is so small it is below the wavelength of visible light, only 200 billionths of a metre wide. Studying the Tokay gecko, a native of Southeast Asia and one of about 800 species of the lizard, the team believed that it was the size and shape of...http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/artificialnature/2002/08/27.html#a271 You can pick your nose, and you can pick your children, and now you can pick your children's nose...- August 27, 2002 In a review of Redesigning Humans the NY Times quotes the author, Gregory Stock: Stock's overarching claim is that germ-line modifications will ''write a new page in the history of life, allowing us to seize control of our evolutionary future,'' an echo of the classic eugenicist dream. New technologies will allow humans to make fundamental alterations to their individual genetic compositions and those of their children. The net effect, he says, will be to draw ''reproduction into a highly...http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/artificialnature/2002/08/26.html#a266 The Future is Coming- August 16, 2002 ... and it's riding on the backs of mice. The technique, in which bits of testicular tissue from newborn pigs and goats were grafted onto the backs of mice, could also provide an unprecedented window through which scientists may watch the mysterious process by which sperm develop in various species -- including humans. Indeed, several experts predicted yesterday that it won't be long before human sperm are grown in mice -- an advance that scientists and ethicists said could lead to both...http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/artificialnature/2002/08/16.html#a239 Common Sense on Cloning- August 14, 2002 I've never really understood the hysteria around the issue of human cloning. Wait. Let me restate. I think it's perfectly reasonable to vehemently oppose human cloning for the purpose of harvesting organs, creating slaves-soldiers-workers, or in general turning a human being into a means for someone else's ends. Human beings must always be treated as ends in themselves. But aside from exploitation (and let's face it, people have been reproducing to create little slaves for their own purposes..http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/artificialnature/2002/08/14.html#a233 Today it's Grace...- August 8, 2002 ...tomorrow it's Stephen Byerley (or Roy Batty). You can read about the first baby steps towards either our Asimovian or Dickian future in this article from the New York Times.http://radio.weblogs.com/0100595/categories/artificialnature/2002/08/08.html#a218 |