
Chinese Scientists Create Gene-Hacked Super Smart Human-Monkey Hybrids - bcaulfield
https://futurism.com/the-byte/chinese-scientists-super-monkeys-human-brain-genes
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wpasc
I want to make a potentially contentious point.

If you ever listen to Thiel/Weinstein talk about the current lack of growth in
much of the sciences, you may be inclined to believe that we are woefully
overcautious in our medical experimentation currently. The FDA does a critical
job, but many believe (including myself) that it is too overoptimized for
avoiding bad headlines. The balance of risk is perhaps not appropriately
there.

When you look at China, there exists a number of more wild experiments. Sean
Parker looked at the CRISPR twins as a "Sputnik" moment in science. While that
procedure has numerous valid criticisms, how can we in the west constructively
move towards accepting more risk to promote more innovation?

I believe that China has a larger appetite for more risk in science, but they
may not have a culture/politics that optimizes for "Screw the established
thought! I have this new crazy idea!" kind of mentality which is potentially
integral for medical advancement.

How can the west promote further scientific innovation to break out of this
stagnating hump? No political party is currently having this discussion.
Republicans may be more likely to deregulate and get out of the way, but
simultaneously want to defund the NIH and NSF (critical sources of funding for
basic research). Democrats may be more willing to spend on research, but do
not consider the threat that regulations can have on innovation (ex. Company
tries something innovative, something goes wrong, democrats may easily mark it
into the narrative of corporate greed experimenting on patients. Bernie
Sanders was one of the few senators who voted against the 21st century cures
act).

How can the west move forward?

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strikelaserclaw
I wouldn't be surprised if china finds promising research and starts applying
it to humans, the chinese seem much more practical than ideological.

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sorenn111
Can we switch the link to MIT technology review?

[https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-
scientists...](https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-scientists-
have-put-human-brain-genes-in-monkeysand-yes-they-may-be-smarter/)

I love futurism.com's enthusiasm but they are not often too substantive.

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bcaulfield
Good point

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bcaulfield
Yodon has submitted that link here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19635814](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19635814)

I've gone ahead and upvoted it.

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ardy42
Now all we needs is a plague that wipes out cats and dogs, and we're well on
our way to _The Planet of the Apes_.

~~~
shraremywin2
They need a mech suit so they can fight the terminators for the future of our
planet. Wonder why I haven't seen that movie plot yet?

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jsnider3
Honestly, I think that China's being a good influence on the scientific
community by doing experiments like this and the CRISPR kids from last year.
The west is too beholden to social conservatism and hopefully, competition
will help free us from it.

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eledumb
A good friend is a Chines ex-pat, and her sister is still in China, her sister
is a gynecologist and during the one child policy days it wasn't uncommon to
have the authorities bring in women who were full term and force the sister
abort the baby.

As my friend would say, "My home country has absolutely no regard for human
life."

The reason the twin's guy was punished is because he talked about what he was
doing. I'm sure what China is doing to "undesirables" or "prisoners" is
probably on par with what Mengle, and unit 731 was doing to people.

To think the Chinese are confining themselves to animal experiments would be
foolish.

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yhoneycomb
china bad, us good

the white man's burden continues

also i love how you're using an anecdote from a friend of a friend to somehow
build credibility

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eledumb
Where did I say we were good, please point it out, because I missed it.

When did I say I was white, again please point it out because I missed it.

We've proven that humans as both individuals, and as a species are capable of
horrible atrocities. The behavior of humans, in groups, is dictated by the
people in charge. The people in charge in China have proven themselves,
repeatedly, to not value human life. I used one example in my post. Do I
really need to list the systemic things the group of men running China have
done to other citizens of China. I didn't think so.

As a group the men running China have a much different view on human life than
the _many_ of the governments around the world. What they support and
encourage as a group I willing to bet, is probably beyond what most people in
the world would consider acceptable. That's not to say the some parts of
governments, and large companies aren't pushing the boundaries, not to mention
well off individuals who are personally looking for an edge.

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aszantu
I wonder when they will do that to dogs ^^

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rmah
Smarter dogs already exist. They're called wolves.

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bcaulfield
And now I'm thinking enhancing the intelligence of wolves, already smart,
would be exactly what we don't need.

