Two Possible Chimera Research Outcomes
By Chris Cochran
PHI3626
In
this paper I will discuss how easy it is to create a chimera and two possible
outcomes that may result if chimera research is allowed to continue and produce
actual human subjects and how society might deal with this new class of
humans. There are, of course, more than
two possible outcomes, but I want to focus on the two most prominent and
feasible outcomes. First, there is the
possibility that chimera research can lead to sub-humanoid creatures; creatures
that would be humanoid but lack certain features or functions so as not to be
called complete humans. Second, it could
lead to super-humanoid creatures; creatures that are humanoid in appearance but
have better, or more, features and/or functions than a normal human of
today. (Photo used without permission from
Dr. Gary Anderson, University of California at Davis)
Let me begin by defining what a chimera is. In general terms, a chimera is a species that has two or more sets of DNA incorporated into its being. This is done “…by injecting the embryonic stem cells of one or more species into the embryo of another species.”[1] It usually takes the form of one set of DNA, but keeps some traits of the other set. For example, the animal in the picture above is called a “Geep”. It had the embryonic stem cells of a sheep injected into the embryo of a goat and then it was allowed to grow and mature into what you see here, a Geep. [2] As you can plainly see, this animal looks like a goat but has a lot of fur on its backside like a sheep would. This animal, in theory, will be able to produce goat’s milk and also a coat of fur that could be sheared off periodically. You get the benefits of having two different animals, but you only have to care and feed just one. A farmer could essentially cut his herd of goats and sheep in half or he could double his profits. But, for the purposes of this paper, the term chimera will mean: a human with two or more sets of DNA incorporated into its being.
Genetics have evolved to the point where just about anybody with a couple hundred dollars and a minimal understanding of biology could create a chimera in their own homemade lab. I know it sounds far fetched, but I’m not exaggerating in the least when I make that claim. There was an article called “Hacking the Genome” by Professor L. in the winter 2003-2004 issue of 2600 (a hacker magazine printed quarterly and can be bought at Barnes & Noble) which tells people how to create E. coli bacteria that fluoresces simply by taking the fluorescing gene from one species, a firefly, and inserting it into a bacteria culture of E. coli. Even though the article isn’t about a human chimera, it is about combing different DNA and then letting them grow. This is the same principle used in creating a human chimera. Professor L. even states in his article that human DNA could be used just as easily as the fluorescing DNA of the firefly. Obtaining human DNA is no problem either, all we have to do is pull out one of our hairs or swab the back of our throats and we have human DNA to do with as we please.
There are a few companies that sell cloning and gene splicing kits online. One such company is BD Biosciences and their kits start at $167.[3] Another such company is Q-Biogene and they have a very large assortment of gene splicing and cloning kits that anyone can buy online.[4] I could go on and on with a list of companies that sell these kits, but then my paper would be entirely too long. Of course these kits that are for sale are not meant for human DNA to be used in them, but who will stop people from experimenting with human DNA? However improbable it is for an actual human chimera to be created using one of these kits, it is not impossible with the right conditions. Not to mention that these kits could lead to further experimentation down the road for people who are so inclined to do so.
One possible outcome of human chimera research is the creation of sub-human beings. They would be genetically deficient in the areas that we choose. For example: we could create beings that look like and act like human beings in most ways, but keep their intelligence down to a minimum so they are easily controlled and have no free will of their own. These sub-humans could be, and most likely would be, treated like slaves in our society. These sub humans would be created for the good of the community and looked upon as what is best for the whole and not the individual. Not that sub humans would even be considered an individual. They could be created with the specific purpose to do menial and/or dangerous work and create a whole new class of slaves.
The old adage used to be, “if it is too dangerous for a human to do, let a machine do it. Machines can be replaced, but a human can’t.” That won’t be the case anymore if we create a class of sub human slaves. Not only could a sub-human be used, but they would be inherently cheaper to operate, maintain, and much easier to be replace than a machine. Robotics are not at the point of human efficiency yet. We can come close to creating a robot that will mimic a human, but they are very expensive and not very practical. Whereas a sub-human can simply be grown in a lab in large numbers, kind of like a factory farm for sub-humans. Eventually, sub humans could be ordered online and delivered right to your door already grown. Not to mention what would happen if the porn industry were able to sell sex slaves. The industry would grow from a multi-billion dollar industry to a multi-trillion dollar industry.
I’m not saying that this will happen at first, but our society has a way of using and exploiting any resource at its disposal. Once a sub-human is deemed “non-human”, then all the ethical barriers are removed and they can be treated exactly the same as any animal. They will become property, just like slaves used to be property to their masters a hundred and fifty years ago. Except this time I don’t believe they will even be treated as three fifths of a human being as slaves once were in the United States.
Another possible outcome of human chimera research is the creation of super human beings. Super humans could be genetically enhanced to be naturally resistant to all forms of disease and will most likely be stronger, faster, and more intelligent than even the best humans alive today. It has long been fantasized that super humans would be used for space travel and exploration. They could be made to live in atmospheres completely foreign and unlivable to normal humans. They could be designed to breathe other gases like carbon dioxide instead of oxygen. Or, imagine if you will a human that could breathe water and was able to withstand the pressure at the bottom of our deepest ocean. Or how about a human that was cold blooded and could thrive in frozen tundra? How about one that could live a couple hundred years or have the ability to hibernate? The possibilities are virtually endless to what we could create. There are many different animals in our world that have these features. It is a simple matter of extracting their DNA and mixing it with our DNA and growing a super human in a test tube.
I think society would welcome these super human chimeras with open arms at first. Super humans would be seen as people who are equal, but with special abilities that go above and beyond what normal humans have. They would be granted full human rights and be treated normally and not sold off as property like the sub humans would. Super humans would be looked upon as one of man’s greatest achievements of all time. At first, super humans would be designed with simple abilities like strength or speed. Some super humans might be designed to see in the dark or even in the infrared spectrum. Eventually, as scientists gain more knowledge on what genes they could successfully insert into human DNA, they could create humans that breathe water or carbon dioxide or even humans that could hibernate. These types of super humans could be designed to travel out into space and colonize other planets like mars or the moon. Eventually, they could head out into deep space and explore other planets outside of our own solar system. Or they could be used to mine our oceans the same way we mine on land. There are an unlimited number of uses for a super human. Most are good, but some are bad.
Society will eventually come to feel threatened by super humans with all their special abilities. Society as a whole, not having any special abilities of their own, might look at itself and feel jealous, obsolete, and useless in the face of super humans. This inferiority could lead to uprisings against the super humans and eventual war or extermination of either the humans or the super humans. Or, the opposite could happen and super humans could see normal humans as obsolete and useless and decide that normal humans are no longer needed and get rid of them. This last scenario is a common science fiction fantasy that is greatly exaggerated in the movie “The Terminator.” In the movie, it is not super humans that try and destroy the humans, but intelligent machines who determine that humans are no longer needed. Another great movie example of this is “The Matrix”, where humans are not killed off, but rather grown in little cocoons and siphoned for the energy they produce. In both movies it was the machines that took over, but who is to say that super humans won’t come to the same conclusion and wipe us out?
I’m not saying a sub-human or superhuman will ever be created in my lifetime, but I know there are people out there in the world who like to experiment to see what they can create. Just because we have the ability to create something, doesn’t mean that we should. Eventually one or both of these chimeras will be created and be leashed upon society. It is during “that” time I hope society will have changed enough to be able to handle the existence of a human chimera. Not just for the chimeras sake, but for our own as well. We must take responsibilities for our actions and live with the consequences whether they are good or not. Most importantly, if we are going to try and play god by creating new types of humans, then we should move very slowly during the entire process and understand what we are fully doing before we move on to the next stage in human development and man made evolution.