400,000 to-be-discarded embryos? The Mad Biologist has a very evil, nefarious, and sinister idea for them:
(photo from here)
They're mine. All mine! I will rule the world galaxy! I will adopt a menacing deep, baritone voice!
It's really hard to take the blastocyst liberationists very seriously...
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I think the rude pundit said Bush would be all for stem cell research if he could use them for torture. For Torture *AND* conquest? You are sure to get a grant!
Have you ever seen Bride of the Atom? You know, the Ed Wood movie?
There is a speech in there from Bela Lugosi that reminds me of this, it ends with something like, "and I and my race of atomic super men will rule the world!"
Why not?
Free your inner neocon... Adopted by the government and gestated in vitro. Reared and educated in private outsourced government schools, followed by a term of service in the military as repayment. Sounds like a viable plan. It could be set up to maintain military recruitment levels so the standing army is always at full strength. Other technical, moral and ethical issues aside, it saves all the blastocysts from destruction, supports and protects the country, provides jobs, and stimulates the economy. What's wrong with that?
Yeah Bruce, everyone loves the world of Brave New World. The only big question is how many each of betas, deltas and epsilons we should make.
Hey, wait just a parsec.. see that Stormie third from the left, the 'short' one? What kinda cut rate Custom Combat Clone army are ya sellin here?! Standards people, we have standards!!
Please have him report to the Soylent Ministry office for recycl.. er I mean reassigment.
Thomas Tleilaxu, M.D. Ph.D
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning (D.H.C.)
London, GB
I'm not suggesting interfering with the genetic makeup of the blastocysts, that would be counterproductive. Think of the untapped genetic diversity that can be added to the gene pool. It can even get more sinister since single cells from blastocysts can be removed and development can proceed normally. Stored then cultured, this single cell could be used to grow replacement parts for injured individuals during conflicts allowing them to return to society as productive individuals. Certainly no one could complain about stem cell use within a personal context. All very reasonable.
"Think of the untapped genetic diversity that can be added to the gene pool."
huh?
400K blastocysts represents anywhere from 20K to, let's say 120K couples. Since new reproductive technologies cost buku dollars, I sincerely doubt this group would represent a true cross section of the actual 'gene pool' we're swimming in. But anyway, I'll split the difference, lets say ya got 80k couples, and it's a complete snapshot of the American gene pool. Toss that load back into the 300million some odd school of guppies, and whadda ya got?
Jack sheeit for genetic diversity.
Now, let's pretend every single one of those 400k snowflakes makes it to term (400K perfect implantations - eeeeyah... ) This would actually represent some real genetic drift - towards homogenizing the pool. Not diversifying it.
jus sayin.
-skunq
Don't interrupt my inner neocon. This is a white is black and black is white job. It only has to give the appearance of credibility, if you look to closely there is nothing there. I'm looking for work in Washington.
(lol!) I'm likin' that innerneocon - I 'gets it'. Please, forgive my tendency to badger minute points. My inner librul is prone to bickering. I'm not sure where my innerneocon is - but he comes around every now and then.
cheers,
-skunq