There's an adage that goes something like " there's a reason for everything". I admit, that I often have a hard time accepting those words at face value. I mean really - there's a reason why there are children going hungry when there are people who are so rich they can't put all the zero's in their check book registers?! Somewhere, I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned about helping others and recognizing the staggering dichotomies that exist on earth between the haves and have nots...I'm just saying I haven't figured it out yet.
I say all that to say - with everything that's going on in this thing we call life, do we really think "re-creating" plant life from over 30,000 years ago is the way to go? REALLY? Have we not all seen this movie? Spielberg, Sam Neill, Laura Dern... couple of cute kids... oh yeah and these guys...
Granted the paleo-life in the film didn't get kicked off by paleo-plant life but by a mosquito who bit a dino and then was frozen FOREVER in the amber confines of some tree sap. But the comparisons are staggering, no? In the movie, it was eventually determined that just MAYBE dinosaurs and present day humans mixing wasn't such a good idea. I mean, the whole running around eating people was probably a good clue.
But it's now 2012 - of course we haven't reanimated the long dead Tyrannosaurus Rex or the Velociraptor. Not that would be too sci-fi in the extreme. Today, we are much more subtle in our quest to be the first to do something. Scientist have found a way to bring back a long dead plant species that was extinct - as in permafrost. Somehow - that just doesn't seem like a good idea. I'm sure there's a reason it was selected for extinction. Some may say - "oh, we don't know what this tiny "new" plant life..." may do for mankind!" Yeah - that's the problem WE DON'T KNOW! What if instead of a cure for say - cancer, we end up with a disease strain so virulent that was mercifully frozen over 30K years ago! And if it's been GONE for that long, I'm pretty sure we don't have a vaccine for it let alone any NATURAL immunities.
Who was it that said - "Just because we CAN do something, doesn't mean we SHOULD do it." Whoever it was - I'm inclined to agree...
I say all that to say - with everything that's going on in this thing we call life, do we really think "re-creating" plant life from over 30,000 years ago is the way to go? REALLY? Have we not all seen this movie? Spielberg, Sam Neill, Laura Dern... couple of cute kids... oh yeah and these guys...
Granted the paleo-life in the film didn't get kicked off by paleo-plant life but by a mosquito who bit a dino and then was frozen FOREVER in the amber confines of some tree sap. But the comparisons are staggering, no? In the movie, it was eventually determined that just MAYBE dinosaurs and present day humans mixing wasn't such a good idea. I mean, the whole running around eating people was probably a good clue.
But it's now 2012 - of course we haven't reanimated the long dead Tyrannosaurus Rex or the Velociraptor. Not that would be too sci-fi in the extreme. Today, we are much more subtle in our quest to be the first to do something. Scientist have found a way to bring back a long dead plant species that was extinct - as in permafrost. Somehow - that just doesn't seem like a good idea. I'm sure there's a reason it was selected for extinction. Some may say - "oh, we don't know what this tiny "new" plant life..." may do for mankind!" Yeah - that's the problem WE DON'T KNOW! What if instead of a cure for say - cancer, we end up with a disease strain so virulent that was mercifully frozen over 30K years ago! And if it's been GONE for that long, I'm pretty sure we don't have a vaccine for it let alone any NATURAL immunities.
Who was it that said - "Just because we CAN do something, doesn't mean we SHOULD do it." Whoever it was - I'm inclined to agree...
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