Genes

[Krosigrim]

I have noticed that perfection is rare. I can assume its based on a random role of the sequencing of genes. Alot of people have the short end of the stick.

 

Alot of people wear glasses. I do. But when I was young my eyes were much better than 20/20. The difference now is I cannot focus clearly on further objects. My eyes tired easy when reading. Glasses fixed this but even without them, I notice extraordinary detail. Perhaps that is just due to my attention to detail, perhaps its merely related to how my mind works. They say that blue eyes are light sensitive. They are genetically weaker than brown, but have better night vision. So in this sense, a recessive gene can also be an advantage. I do have great night vision.

 

But I often notice others build, traits etc. We are a melting pot of people and mixing of different pools are common. (I am a German/Irish/Scott... With a very very small % of Native American) I can tell often, if someone is from another country... or parents were from another land. Russians for instance. Yes they are white, but they look different. Facial structure and so on.

 

What happens 5-10 generations from now though? Will blue eyes, green eyes, blonde hair etc be rare do to being bred out? Overbreeding occurs in animals when too much of a particular trait is compounded. But traits and genes in general will become more rare/common. Staying with the same general race type is certain to occur but how many forms of the major races are there? Asians for instance have alot. From Japan to China, Thailand to Korea there are almost countless variations. So many ethnic groups in China alone that us Americans dont commonly know about. I can tell the difference between a mongolian descended person and a similar looking group, but what happens when countless generations go by and everyone is basically mixed.

 

Im not saying this is bad, Im questioning what happens when certain recessive genes become all too rare. Having alot of dominant genes does not guarantee an awesome end result.

 

But as for blood. "Nobles" were of "Royal" blood but were and still are weak. They were often sickly looking. Selective breeding... but what did it gain them? Not superior bodies I can tell you. Only their upbringing , education and being born into a powerful position gave them the edge. In fact their life of spoils ruined them physically. As a race (human) we build and adept to our environment. One cannot grow unless there is something to work against. Prince Charles was recessive. Princess Ann was a beauty with great genes and look at their progeny. Their sons got a good deal of "good" genes from their mother, in which they should be thankful. But...

 

What occurs at the genetic level when a life is born. Knowing this, I fear genetic altering. It is something we are already messing with and I believe will be commonplace in the near future. It will be viewed upon as good. Imagine selectively changing bad sequencing. Removing risks of heart problems or cancer. What happens when it goes further and further though.

 

Imagine a mix of Gattaca + the process of what Kahn was from. (from Star Trek II)

 

I dont know where im going with this... there are so many points I want to touch on. This subject can branch in so many ways.

 

Anyone have anything to say about this?

[Skythe]

The gene for stupidity is becoming dominate. Damn you evolution!

[Krosigrim]

The gene for stupidity is becoming dominate. Damn you evolution!

Idiocracy.

 

In that movie, silly as it is, stupid people had tons of children over the generations where as smart people were too busy with their professions and so on to actually have many children.

 

We are breeding out intelligence. Stupid people do indeed seem to have a ton of children.

 

All in all though, it has alot to do with upbringing. Therefore the parents are directly responsible for their childrens failures. This is only to a degree though, there are circumstantial situations. But raised in an environment where they arent challenged, nurtured and encouraged along with being force fed bad habits and behavioral patterns... its a formulae for diminishing returns. Being raised by TV and not being interacted with enough, etc. allows for stagnation... at that well... rots the brain.

 

LOL, if only a license was required to have children. Thats horrible isnt it? I say it jokingly but its a scary concept.

[veristic]

Yeah, its called China. Well... I don't think they have real licenses for children but yeah.

 

As for 'dumb" people breeding children, we all have the capacity to be intelligent, thats why educating one's self is important. But beyond that I think cultivating ethics and virtue are more important than education in itself. You can teach subjects, but you can't train a person to be humane, show reciprocity and respect in a conventional mean.

 

On the notion of gene alteration as a commodity practice, its difficult to say whether or not society will allow that to become a standard. Different nations and countries will adopt different perspectives but what will be absolute should the procedure to alter our genes become conventional, is that there will be outcry's of inhumanity and ungodliness. Perhaps there will be a forum for its practical purpose in the medical field to prevent sickness and chronic ailments of the malign unfortunate, such as physically disabled persons from birth or those who are born with debilitating sicknesses such as leukemia.

 

At any rate, it'll be a long time from now and much after our lifetime that such theories might become practical applications in society.

[emsley]

intelligence has and always will be the most dominant trait.

I can name countless people who have had 6+ Kids, but a smaller family benefits from more attention, like keeping a herd together its much easier, larger familys have poor shepards and the lose their flock quite often.

Nature gives the "feral" a chance, if just one of those kids can get his/her ass in gear and use their brain then its thier job done!

 

Im a strong believer in the fact I still pride my self on having one or two children one day, i just really want to see what thats all about!

One day you willwake up aged 59 and your chance to pass on your genetics will have passed.

[Krosigrim]

Well I do know there is a company that went public (stock market) and they are dealing with things of this nature. It has also been some time since the first cloning. Although this subject has alot of hurtles to overcome before it has the possibility to become common practice... every year technology as a whole doubles, so they say, and I fear this will be a viable practice in our lifetime.

 

Screening out abnormalities is where it would start, but we wont be able to stop those who mean to "advance" the race. Just like we cant stop criminals from acting... It'll be a whole new scary situation. Along with this tech, will be man made viruses of a horrible nature.

 

They claim they already mapped the human genome some time ago. The truths of this concern me. Being able to manipulate the DNA at any level opens the door to some scary shit.

-----

 

But back to the intelligence, Veristic you are right of course. Cultivating ethics and virtue are indeed more important than education as a whole. Knowing what to do with knowledge, as a small example, is far more important than the knowledge itself. One can only be judged by their actions. Its a damn shame when childrens innocents are tainted. Taught hate, greed and so forth.

 

My mom left my Dad before I hit 2. He was an alcoholic abusive and she did not want me to become him. I can never thank her rightfully for the actions she took. I have my issues, as everyone does, but I am free of certain behavioral bullshit I very well have picked up from him. Of course we are all responsible for our own actions but this as a whole is so dynamic, it is hard to bullet point it. It takes some doing to look within and do what is "right" Dealing with ones self is probably the hardest thing ever... we are often our own worst enemies.

 

One day you willwake up aged 59 and your chance to pass on your genetics will have passed.

Unless your like Connery or Gibson. Im sure those two could get fertile chicks much younger that them. Well Gibson's 54 or so but still

[veristic]

For me, i'm interested in seeing A.I. also. It's almost like a race to see which will surface first as a practical application, since computational efficiency and power doubles at an exponential rate every two years. We may see thinking machines before we see a ginger kid being treated for his freckles and red hair.

 

I know scientists are trying to re-engineer the likes of Dinosaurian features in modern day birds by altering their genes during the growth stage, so an example would be like using the embryo of an Emu which has very close, if not the closest, genetic base to those of say some species of raptor. They've already found ways to alter genes in the growth stage to have the Emu fetus' retain teeth (which apparently all birds have during development, it is a gene that controls its disappearance during) and to grow a longer tail instead of a short stub.

 

Obviously we'll see advances like this in animals before humans. Hell, it'll be interesting to see if we can isolate Mammoth DNA and impregnate a modern Elephant to give birth to one (they say its possible, we just don't have the DNA from any frozen carcasses). And if we're cloning, we should put it towards the revitalization of many dying species throughout the world as a result of human encroachment. Tigers, whales, fish, frogs, the whole lot.

[Krosigrim]

Well damn now you got me commenting on cybernetics too. You have seen the rat brain robot?

 

http://www.1emulation.com/forums/index.php...c=28917&hl=

 

Anyway, they are getting better at meshing biology and tech. I saw a girl with a robotic limb and it was wired to her nervous system. It even gave her rudimentary tactile sensation. Basically they placed a little board in nerve clusters and they grew to it or the brain learned to perceive the signals... both actually. I saw 2 blind women with a camera wired to their brain. It took months for the nerves to adapt, but they could see shadowy figures. Give all this more time and you have soldiers with a HUD.

 

So what do we have, gene manipulation and cybernetics... yea, sounds awesome. Mutant cyborgs. Add a zombie plague and were fucked.

 

As for this Emu tampering... I havnt heard this. Thats crazy! I want a Raptor! A giant one I can ride. Install cybernetics and you have an awesome mount, that can blast you with missiles and lasers then eat the remaining chunks.

 

I wonder how genes would change if cybernetics were commonplace. We do adapt so its logical to think physiological changes would occur.

[Inky]

my brain hurts.

[emsley]

Put it this way the girls i "could" of had kids with went on to have them anyway and most of them have problems, IE early births, or medical conditions.

And the chicks I wanted kids to, well they also had them anyway but no medial issues at all...

COINCIDENCE???

[ken_cinder]

Genes also work on a DOMINANCE factor.

 

My ex-wife had a genetic bone disease that she could have passed on to our daughter, but didn't.

 

Why? I have no history of it in my family, thus no dominant OR recessive genes for it. She however had it, and thus had a dominant gene for it.

 

Dominant Gene + Dominant Gene = Will have the genetic trait

 

Dominant Gene + Recessive Gene = 75/25 chance of Dominant/Recessive(Carrier)

 

Recessive Gene + Recessive Gene = Will carry the gene for said genetic trait (Will be a recessive gene carrier)

 

In our case, the Dominant+No Gene factor was a 50/50 shot on our daughter not having it, or being a carrier of the gene...she still may carry it, but doesn't have the disease.

 

I have better than 20/20 vision with perfect color pickup still to this day, and I see in the dark like a cat. My eyes also change color throughout the year.