
The Mammoth Cometh - kanamekun
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/magazine/the-mammoth-cometh.html
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el_zorro
The quote at the end of the article really struck me:

"We are as gods, and might as well get good at it."

I think that this is something that everyone involved with technology and
science should think about. The fear of what we can create should never stop
us from creating, but should instead serve as an impetus for more enlightened
uses. I think that, as we have the ability to create biological diversity, we
should do so (albeit in a responsible way). The same goes for every other
technology that is being developed.

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valarauca1
The quote is taken form the Whole Earth Catalog [1]. Jobs referenced it a lot
the quote you are using is its first line. Its last line which is often
attributed to Jobs is in fact the, "Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Catalog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Catalog)

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nkoren
The reference -- and the concern about tinkering with the tree of life -- goes
a bit further back:

"And YHVH said, Behold, the man _is become as one of us_ , to know good and
evil; and now -- lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of
life, and eat, and live forever -- let us send him forth from the garden of
Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man;
and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." \-- Genesis
3:22-3:24

(Nb.: Citation of religious text does not imply endorsement thereof.)

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mjhoy
The counterargument to fears about disease is ridiculous:

> But nature is totally random.

Does David Haussler _really_ believe that? That whatever species exist in an
ecosystem today is just some random set? That evolution is noise in the
background? How would he characterize natural selection? Would he say we
shouldn't care about invasive species at all, since what we humans introduce
can't be any worse than "totally random"?

It's a bad argument, and the NYT should not have let him get away with it.
They even go so far as to use part of it in a pull quote!

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SeanDav
Paywall is stopping me - any way to see this once I have reached my 10
articles per month limit?

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dangrossman
> any way to see this once I have reached my 10 articles per month limit?

Yes, by purchasing a subscription or waiting until next month.

Sidenote: Does asking for instructions to bypass DRM (however weak) on
copyrighted material put anyone that responds in the position of committing
contributory copyright infringement? Secondary liability is a real thing in
the US at least.

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DontBeADick
No need to be a dick about it.

They made the paywall easy to bypass intentionally.

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melling
Yes, because they expect people to follow an honor system. If you find that
much value where you find yourself reading more than the limit, they want you
to pay. Does that not seem fair?

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DontBeADick
If they wanted to use an honor system, they wouldn't have a paywall at all.
The two are mutually exclusive.

They want to _encourage_ people to pay without _forcing_ them, because the
latter would result in a significant decrease in their readership. They still
want non-paying readers to help spread their articles, and they still get ad
revenue from them.

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snake_plissken
"We spared no expense."

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protomyth
I'm fine with them bringing back the Mammoth since it at least was recent, but
I do have some concerns about other animals. We probably should not bring back
any apex predators for a while (T Rex or for the love of all that's holy a
Meglaodon).

I am a bit concerned that it will not survive with the evolution of other
things (e.g. disease).

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etanazir
Might be some money in a Wooly Mammoth wool clothing line.

~~~
waraey
Am I the only one who wants them to be brought back so I can have a Wooly
Mammoth steak?

mmmm....Mammoth Steak

~~~
etanazir
the people who tried elephant steak did'nt go so far with their
recommendation;

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Shivetya
the other application of all these new forms of life will be their eventual
use in making other planets, namely Mars habitable or less inhospitable.
Granted that view is based on my reading Red Mars currently

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cliveowen
That is way too long for web,let alone mobile, consumption. What's the TL;DR
version?

