But why bother?
Richard Dawkins recently tweeted,
Why bother (to clone mammoths)? Why bother? Why bother to go on living? Why not just stop breathing if you are that incurious?
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins)July 15, 2013
But it is not just curiosity that drives the imperative to introduce extinct, novel or threatened species. We now have the power not only to obliterate life from the planet, but also to protect and manage it.
We should decide what kind of life there should be. We should invest in technologies that allow us to maintain biological diversity and perhaps even increase it.
Some might even argue that humans have a particular moral obligation to re-introduce species whose extinction they caused, either directly, as is likely in the case of the mammoth, or indirectly, as a result of global climatic disruption.
The value of re-creating mammoths might consist largely in satisfying intrinsic human curiosity. But, creating or re-creating some kinds of life forms may also be of great instrumental value to human beings, say in blocking the emergence of pathogens, or in helping to ensure the continued existence of life on the planet.
What initially seems like a curiosity actually prompts a deep question about the role of humans in directing the future course of life on this planet.
Up until this point, human influence on the world has largely been destructive. But we are now entering a phase where our influence can be constructive.
We can now preserve species not merely by conservation of the environment, but also through the use of genetic engineering, synthetic biology, and other reproductive technologies.
But why bother?Richard Dawkins recently tweeted,Why bother (to clone mammoths)? Why bother? Why bother to go on living? Why not just stop breathing if you are that incurious?— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins)July 15, 2013But it is not just curiosity that drives the imperative to introduce extinct, novel or threatened species. We now have the power not only to obliterate life from the planet, but also to protect and manage it.We should decide what kind of life there should be. We should invest in technologies that allow us to maintain biological diversity and perhaps even increase it.Some might even argue that humans have a particular moral obligation to re-introduce species whose extinction they caused, either directly, as is likely in the case of the mammoth, or indirectly, as a result of global climatic disruption.The value of re-creating mammoths might consist largely in satisfying intrinsic human curiosity. But, creating or re-creating some kinds of life forms may also be of great instrumental value to human beings, say in blocking the emergence of pathogens, or in helping to ensure the continued existence of life on the planet.What initially seems like a curiosity actually prompts a deep question about the role of humans in directing the future course of life on this planet.Up until this point, human influence on the world has largely been destructive. But we are now entering a phase where our influence can be constructive.We can now preserve species not merely by conservation of the environment, but also through the use of genetic engineering, synthetic biology, and other reproductive technologies.
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