4 ms·

Chinese Scientists Create Gene-Hacked Super Smart Human-Monkey Hybrids

23 points by bcaulfield 8y ago

ardy42 8y ago
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 8y ago
  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?
- ohiovr 8y ago
  Or monkey butlers a la simpsons.
aszantu 8y ago
I wonder when they will do that to dogs ^^
- rmah 8y ago
  Smarter dogs already exist. They're called wolves.
  - bcaulfield 8y ago
    And now I'm thinking enhancing the intelligence of wolves, already smart, would be exactly what we don't need.
wpasc 8y ago
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?
- strikelaserclaw 8y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised if china finds promising research and starts applying it to humans, the chinese seem much more practical than ideological.
- supLolll 8y ago
  How comfortable do you feel with encountering shanty towns, or wandering packs of sufficiently intelligent, tool-using genetically engineered hybrids? How comfortable do feel with the idea of looking at pictures of horrendously deformed children? Watching HD videos of them live in miserable pain? How do you feel about knowing their might be laboratories, filled with cages containing strange failed experiments? Are you going to be okay with all the cruelty, as lab technicians get bored with the idea of tending to the needs of inconvenient five-year-old oddities that aren't intended to last more than ten years? How far and how much of the fringe incidental screw-ups are you willing to let slip past, in furtherance of progress comparable to that of a competitor which has no qualms about exploitatively pushing forward with? Move fast and break things, indeed.
sorenn111 8y ago
Can we switch the link to MIT technology review? https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-scientists-have-put-human-brain-genes-in-monkeysand-yes-they-may-be-smarter/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-scientists... I love futurism.com's enthusiasm but they are not often too substantive.
- bcaulfield 8y ago
  Good point
  - bcaulfield 8y ago
    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.
jsnider3 8y ago
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.
eledumb 8y ago
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.
- yhoneycomb 8y ago
  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
  - eledumb 8y ago
    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.
    - yhoneycomb 8y ago
      >When did I say I was white, again please point it out because I missed it. and yet you don't deny it i must either have superpowers OR you made it painfully obvious

23 points by bcaulfield 8y ago

ardy42 8y ago

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 8y ago
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?
ohiovr 8y ago
Or monkey butlers a la simpsons.

aszantu 8y ago

I wonder when they will do that to dogs ^^

rmah 8y ago
Smarter dogs already exist. They're called wolves.
- bcaulfield 8y ago
  And now I'm thinking enhancing the intelligence of wolves, already smart, would be exactly what we don't need.

wpasc 8y ago

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?

strikelaserclaw 8y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if china finds promising research and starts applying it to humans, the chinese seem much more practical than ideological.
supLolll 8y ago
How comfortable do you feel with encountering shanty towns, or wandering packs of sufficiently intelligent, tool-using genetically engineered hybrids? How comfortable do feel with the idea of looking at pictures of horrendously deformed children? Watching HD videos of them live in miserable pain? How do you feel about knowing their might be laboratories, filled with cages containing strange failed experiments? Are you going to be okay with all the cruelty, as lab technicians get bored with the idea of tending to the needs of inconvenient five-year-old oddities that aren't intended to last more than ten years? How far and how much of the fringe incidental screw-ups are you willing to let slip past, in furtherance of progress comparable to that of a competitor which has no qualms about exploitatively pushing forward with? Move fast and break things, indeed.

sorenn111 8y ago

Can we switch the link to MIT technology review? https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-scientists-have-put-human-brain-genes-in-monkeysand-yes-they-may-be-smarter/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613277/chinese-scientists... I love futurism.com's enthusiasm but they are not often too substantive.

bcaulfield 8y ago
Good point
- bcaulfield 8y ago
  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.

jsnider3 8y ago

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.

eledumb 8y ago

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.

yhoneycomb 8y ago
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
- eledumb 8y ago
  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.
  - yhoneycomb 8y ago
    >When did I say I was white, again please point it out because I missed it. and yet you don't deny it i must either have superpowers OR you made it painfully obvious