DARPA to Genetically Engineer Humans by Adding a 47th Chromosome

reply to post by Kali74


I have no fears.
Hit the alert button and see if your right.

Originally posted by Gorman91
reply to post by burntheships

 

A few proteins passing through the membrane of the nucleus is hardly a chromosome.

Who said it was? You?

reply to post by burntheships


Yes. Because that is what we are talking about.

Unless of course we have the technology to produce a couple thousand proteins at once that I have not heard.

reply to post by Gorman91


30 million dollars in 2011 says they are busy "manufacturing" biology.

One of the latest research buzzwords, synthetic biology means different things to many. But for a new DARPA program, it represents modifying the metabolic and genetic machinery of cells to produce useful products. "We want to create a new manufacturing capability for the United States

news.sciencemag.org...

Funding:
Previous funding under different project and other research and development are under other projects.
FY 2013 - $10 million

FY 2011 Accomplishments:
- Began development of high-level design and compilation techniques for programming, constructing and modeling synthetic genetic regulatory networks.
- Initiated characterization and testing of genetic parts and regulators and their assembly into simple circuits to begin to demonstrate ability to design and build workable and robust designs.
- Began the design and development of automation software and components for automated assembly of engineered systems.

FY 2012 Plans:
- Continue development of high-level design, automation and construction tools to increase the efficiency, sophistication, and scale of possible designs.
- Continue the design and development of modular regulatory elements, parts and devices necessary to build hierarchical, complex genetic networks.
- Initiate development of orthogonal parts, devices circuits and systems in order to mitigate system cross-talk.
- Initiate investigation, design, and development of standard test platforms and chassis that predictably interact with new genetic circuitry.
- Initiate design and development of new quantitative, high-throughput measurement and debugging tools to test and validate the operation of synthetic regulatory networks.

FY 2013 Plans:
- Continue development of standardized test platforms and chassis and begin modeling studies to predict platform behavior.
- Continue development of orthogonal genetic networks to demonstrate ability to limit cross-talk with native systems.
- Begin designing, constructing, modeling, and testing of large scale, hierarchical genetic networks to demonstrate ability to do forward engineering of systems and functions.
- Continue development and testing of characterization and debugging tools for synthetic regulatory networks.

nextbigfuture.com...

reply to post by burntheships

30 million dollars in 2011 says they are busy "manufacturing" biology.

Actually that is about using biology to manufacture.

It does involve genetic engineering but not on humans.

reply to post by dominicus

At BGI Shenzhen, scientists have collected DNA samples from 2,000 of the world’s smartest people and are sequencing their entire genomes in an attempt to identify the alleles which determine human intelligence

While interesting what there doing is in some terms downgrading also. Intelligence is not in itself a hereditary trait look at most what you would call smart people and there offspring and usually they are different as can be, intelligence itself is merely a fleeting poll result in a moving system ie a society or culture. It's a hit and miss, more often having to do with your life experience then anything else.

What they consider intelligence seems to be the ability to read a bunch of things memorize it, conform to it, and its system thereby integrated into the greater whole, which is not that far in regard to how some people ie savant type people are able to look at a book and remember it in a single glance or do complicated computations in there head. What they do not realize is that in itself is nothing important, in fact its nothing that a specific mechanical tools such as computers can not do.

The human brain operates at many different levels constantly, the majority of which they are not aware of. And like some of these savant people they may be able to operate at some things in what may be termed incredible ways, but you remove them from there element and they will completely fail and break down. In effect a downgrading, all dependent on the what particular system they life in and what is considered important or intelligent. If they were to be born a few hundred years ago they would be left to die. No offense to such people or others, but like I said its merely a hit and miss in the molds of society, what society considers useful basically.

Now making genetic copies of such traits will in now way somehow make you a as you called it Einstein Super Soldier, it will just make you prone to one particular trait and path of which today its all the rage. But in the futures to come may not be so cool or beneficial at all adaptation to human constructs like cultures and nations, of which is but an offshoot to adaptations to environments and nature, of which both have a habit of changing. What they are doing its like saying I watched a bunch of kung fu movies and took a bunch of seminars on war, so now I can kick anybody ass, or I read a book about survival in the desert so now I am ready to be drooped off there. Ya it does not work like that.

Gene transfers of inherit traits or memories or experiences. Well it does not work like that, in many ways its like reading about something and doing that something, two completely different things, no matter how much everybody else may agree on it. Its in effect creating sort of behaviorist clones, of which there are plenty around and may be useful depending on what society you life under. Today age I would say it would be pretty useful, in fact having a nation full of people prone to certain traits has been useful in any age, by sheer number alone that is.

But really they are trying to find out what determines intelligence. Here I thought that is known, survival and thriving ability useful to the particular society there in. In that sense it has been done for ever, its the various machinations of human pairings throughout the centuries. Let me put it this way there are plenty of smart guys who will never pass on there geneome because they are not predisposed to there particular societal model, and there are plenty of stupid and even deranged guys who will because they are predisposed to there particular societal model.

That is the majority of what there is to it. It is not some mystery, looking at any given highschool and teenagers and there dating drama will show you what is considered intelligent is on part merely a matter of perception of the group in question and the traits they consider important. And apply that to a broader spectrum like societies.

I don't think genetic engineering is bad in principle... but I would DAMN SURE not trust a government who can't even balance it's own books that comes up the obvious and lame terror stunts it continues to pull while telling us we still have to burn oil, to do this kind of work.

Oh yeah... I'm sure this will go well.

I am impressed by one thing though.

How the hell did Uma Thurman stop aging? I hate her so much right now that I'm going to go obsess over her pictures online for an hour.

reply to post by NotAnAspie

but I would DAMN SURE not trust a government who can't even balance it's own books that comes up the obvious and lame terror stunts it continues to pull while telling us we still have to burn oil, to do this kind of work.

Actually it isn't the government which is doing anything. They are paying for it to be done. The thread is about a request for proposals (from private entities) to receive a grant to conduct a specific line of research.

reply to post by Phage

So what do we do? Just stop? Doesn't seem that we as humans are very good at that...ever since we figured out how fire works we've been playing with it and its kin. That's what got us out of "the caves".

Of what majority of these so called "cavepeople" actually lived in caves? Not very high now was it? Are we to spreed myths now as well? You know that clearly the majority were river or ocean side dwellers, as well as plains dwellers, merely following the highest food sources, when did this people of ancient pasts were all cave-dwellers myths start? When the majority of those who actually lived in caves was so small as to be insignificant.

And unless you two are arguing about some other link other then the op's, which is clearly about modifying "mammalian" chromosomes, by installing synthetic chromosomes in there genome. Humans last I checked are still considered mammals.

Srry my bad I just felt like following along and not arguing on point... Just trying to fit in.

reply to post by galadofwarthethird

Of what majority of these so called "cavepeople" actually lived in caves? Not very high now was it?

Thus the quotation marks.

Humans last I checked are still considered mammals.

Are human cells considered to be humans? Because that is what this, and much other genetic research involves. Cell lines. Cell lines are not humans, even human cell lines. Is a blood cell a human? How about that skin cell that you just sluffed off? Is that a human? Aww. It's dead. So sad. When's the funeral?
www.cell-lines-service.de...

Srry my bad I just felt like following along and not arguing on point... Just trying to fit in.

By "fitting in" you mean not actually reading what the request for proposals says? You mean just going ahead and believing the claims of the article in the OP? Ok. Go ahead and "fit in". You're a perfect fit.

reply to post by burntheships


Funny thing about funding. The amount you pay does not affect the ability to accomplish or the amount done.

Furthermore, you should read Phage's comment.

Now, I am fully aware of the accomplishments on printing biological entities, but this has not progressed to the level of printing thousands of protien sequences yet.

For now, it's a couple of proteins. Call them chromosomes if you wish, but realize anyone with first year bio education will be laughing at you.

reply to post by darkbake

Well, I think it is a good idea to put all that genetically modified stuff on a 47th chromosome so that it is easier to find and get rid of later... than trying to pick it out of the other 46. Other than that, GM Humans?

Wow. That is going to cause some problems down the road, no question.

Maybe I should embrace it and become as much of a cyborg and GM human as possible? That would make sense for my character, I would upgrade myself as much as possible but still be philosophically in support of non eugenics. Then I could have an epic battle against eugenics peoples and superhumans

Or more likely you will have to pay a fee to a corporate entity every time you take a # for an inappropriate discharging of there product. But sure why not, a 47th synthetic chromosome, I think it will be hilarious, we need more hilarious things in this world. Its just not funny enough. More people with potential ears growing on there forehead just may light up this place.

I was just joking. Kind of.

Super Soldier Cyborg this thing is not.
New wave this thing is not.
Superhuman this thing is not.
May or may not be beneficial under certain conditions for certain uses this thing may be.
But its just as likely, that it may be not.

reply to post by WhoKnows100

In an equal fashion "natural selection" and "evolution" repetitively seared into our knowledge bank leads to an erroneous conclusion as stated above. How many on this board alone continually write that "humans are evolving" despite the reality that we are doing nothing of the sort and in actuality are de-evolving into the ancient past?

Evolving to what may be the question. If you go by structure of nature then an organism losses some of its traits when it is engulfed into a group, like cells who must conform to the whole the traits of which once set a organism and distinguished it now have taken a backseat to the modus operandi. And on whole and like a cell in the human body for it all to work it must function on a certain level and that is it, specialization in cells lets see you have cells in skin which do one thing you have cells in the heart which do another and you have cells in the kidneys and the liver which do others and are formed to do others. In many ways humanity and human society is exactly like that, specialization is not the death of and individual its merely the cementing of an individual into a mold. Though unlike cells or things on the macro and micro level specialization just may ultimately be the death of us.

At one time it was prudent and beneficial to your survival to know your way around the woods, and nature. At one time it was prudent to know your way around a neighborhood and block. Now we got GPS and a device to tell you exactly were to go, and exactly were to turn and stop. What do you think the impact of even such a small and unnoticeable thing will be? A dumbing down of humanity? Well you can say that. Some traits may one day no longer be desirable in this environment we call society as it would impede the coalescence of the whole. And no I am not talking about traits such as being a woodsman.

Originally posted by Gorman91

For now, it's a couple of proteins

Right now, I am laughing at your comments, millions upon
millions for a "couple of proteins" Thanks for the laugh.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by NotAnAspie

 

but I would DAMN SURE not trust a government who can't even balance it's own books that comes up the obvious and lame terror stunts it continues to pull while telling us we still have to burn oil, to do this kind of work.

Actually it isn't the government which is doing anything. They are paying for it to be done. The thread is about a request for proposals (from private entities) to receive a grant to conduct a specific line of research.

edit on 8/1/2013 by Phage because: (no reason given)

The government so much as having a say is all I really needed to know.

Their hands will not be out of this. If their hands were to be completely out of it with zero control over business processes, they wouldn't be paying for it to begin with. I've worked for a government contractor... and that company hired a lot of people who had worked in government and military people were constantly dropping in. It effected the way we did many things. Not just that but you don't get government contracts without having government ties.... at least a few people in your company. People in government jobs come out and work for contractors, contractors might go into government jobs... either way there's always a connection when the government funds something big.

reply to post by bekod


Even with immunity to pain a lung shot will lay down anything as effectively as a headshot. Oxygen is even more important than blood. Bring on the zombies

reply to post by DeviousEngineer

Oh man, this is absolutely Magnificent. Soon we will have Abilities that span beyond our own mere Mental prowess. We can finally attempt to Harness the power of Science to elongate our own lives. Become.better than ever before. I can see it now: Wolverine style Regeneration with limbs, Chameleon like camo, The Speed of a Cheeta and the ability to survive The Harshest of Earths weather.

You are confused about it. This will not endow you with any miracle like x-men type powers. Its just an extra chromosome which they can infuse certain traits into to so see if it spreads to other genomes or with the hopes that it is accepted and beneficial. Most likely it will be rejected the way foreign bodies are rejected when entering your body such as a virus or shard of metal. It can lead to as many complications as any potential beneficiaries.

I do not think it will elongate your life any more then a healthy live will, nor make you smarter then the effort you will put into it, nor will you regenerate limbs like wolverine, or make you a chameleon unless you want to be covered in scale like skin which would mess with the fact that your warm blooded which will likely kill you in the mildest weather when you cant change your internal temperature, or given the fact that because to your scale like skin you cant sweat. A minor complication.

And if you want to have the speed of a cheetah sure it can be done, first you may need to lose some mass and height, your whole body for that muscular and skeletal structure are all wrong, completely not aerodynamic, oh and you may have to lose those arms or grow another set of legs and walk on all fours for any sustained speed, you know for maximum efficiency. Or you now what, forget all that, how about we just take your brain out and stick it into a cheetah, then you will have cheetah speed. Though it may bring other complications as well. Those will be placed in the small print for your reading pleasure.

I've never been one for morals in the face of scientific progress, morals can go out the window during the Testing phase. If i were to be doing such experiments, i can guarantee people would despise me for The Testing i would be conducting. Unfortunately Morals hold us back on Certain things, such as Scientific Progress and Research.

I do not think they would envy you during the testing phase. And moral, well morals are in a way the way this human biological animal has evolved to not do things which would be to stupid. Some people call morals commons sense, or looking both ways before crossing any strange streets, others have made morals into a sort of cult and religion and as this mystical unattainable thing. However it is mostly just a mechanism for getting along among a group of humans.

I would be the first to allow myself to be Exeprimented on if i were to have such abilities. Come to think of it there would be so many willing volunteers for such an Experiment. I say go ahead and Test to your Hearts content, Give us everything you got New Chromosome.

Oh dude there looking for all kinds of people to try all kinds of new things on. Look it up in your yellow pages, they may even give you 30 bucks for showing up.

Make us humans Ascend to the next step in our wonderful Evolution, Branching off into a new Breed that will propell us through our Galaxy and ever Further into our Universe, For Mankind will achieve his most desired goal, To become A God among men!

Ye shall be as goods eh.

Or you can go visit a zoo and decant all your superiority to the chimps there in. It is in effect the same thing or the next best thing. If you cant be a god among humans you can be a human god among chimps. Though I warn you, the one eyed man in the land of the blind contrary to popular believe and though he may be king, is also in his own personal hell. Kind of like sitting in the jungle with a bunch of chimps and enjoying the finer things in chimp life such as picking and eating lice, dealing with chimp hierarchy and protocols, swinging from trees, and lets not forget the enjoyable pastime of #ing on your hand and throwing poop at the other chimps.

building better vaccines?

or better viruses?

Yeah... I don't think I trust the governments hand in this at all.

reply to post by NotAnAspie

I don't think I trust the governments hand in this at all.

I see.
Is it your position that government funding is always for something nefarious then? How has that attitude worked out for you so far?

I don't trust the government to be looking out for my interests. But to blindly distrust them because the are the government seems kind of pointless.