An NPR article was shared with us in class titled, “Scientists Say They Could Bring Back Woolly Mammoths. But Maybe They Shouldn’t” and written by Scott Neuman (x). The article details the work of the company Colossal (x) and Harvard University genetics professor George Church, who are hoping to use CRISPER technology to resurrect the Woolly Mammoth, or to be more specific, to use “a gene-editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas9 to splice bits of DNA recovered from frozen mammoth specimens into that of an Asian elephant, the mammoth’s closest living relative–” in order to create a hybrid “animal — known as a “mammophant” — would look, and presumably behave, much like a woolly mammoth”.
There are many reasons cited for the project, such as how the Mammoths might help fight climate change, or how the technology could be applied to help endangered species. There’s also a lot of reactionary opinions warning against such a project, ala Jurassic Park anecdotes.
Personally, I hear the warnings against it, but can’t help but think of all the outlandish, or unethical projects that have been funded in the past and can’t help but feel a “why not this one then” about it. I don’t feel like the original purpose of the project is at all nefarious or other than what they are claiming it to be, and while I understand if it’s successful of course an outside patron with funding might want to apply the technology for a nefarious goal, I don’t think we should hold back on advancing technology for that reason. I feel that if this is successful it would be groundbreaking and could be applied for good. So in conclusion, I think they should go for it, while also having the future licensed technology that comes from it heavily regulated.
