So, even though I suspect the resurrectionists generally underrate the genetic, epigenetic, and environmental dimensions of the problem they recommend tackling, for the purposes of this discussion let’s assume that reconstructing extinct species eventually will be practical at some level, behavioral traits and all. Spending millions trying to de-extinct a few species will not compensate for the thousands of species lost to human activity. Science has come a long way in genetics, genomics, and development in a very short time much that can be done today seemed impossible when my wife, Anne, and I came to Stanford in 1959. And one would be foolish to predict that even making a fully successful reconstruction of an extinct species is impossible. Or should we? I’ll answer this question, but not before I briefly address another: Could we? Would it be possible? It seems likely that in some cases a simulacrum - perhaps a quite reasonable simulacrum - of an extinct organism can be produced. Surely, if that’s an achievable goal, and we want to do it, humanity should go full speed ahead and resurrect the creatures we have wiped from the earth. Of course, being able to rent a pair of velociraptors to add spice to the “reality” TV show you’re directing would be nice too.Īn appealing picture to say the least: Jurassic Park in reality, bringing vanished animals back to life, made possible by spectacular progress in molecular biology.Īfter all, isn’t Homo sapiens destined to use its fine brains to engineer the entire planet (or universe)? But let’s restrict our dreaming to recreating organisms that Homo sapiens has itself exterminated. Wouldn’t it be great to have vast herds of mammoths roaming the Canadian tundra, or a thrill to see flocks of hundreds of millions of passenger pigeons settling in Michigan forests once again to gobble down vast amounts of beech mast and supply succulent squabs to Chicago restaurants? Or maybe enjoy watching flights of Carolina parakeets over southern farms, or at least observe a living pair of saber-toothed cats in a cage in a zoo.
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