Viraj's Weblog

I read an interesting interview in Discover magazine with Doug Melton regarding stem cell research and ethics.

An interesting quote:

What would happen if scientists injected human stem cells into a monkey embryo? What would grow? A human heart, a human brain, a toe? That is a kind of new biology that I find a million times more interesting than these specious arguments over whether life begins at fertilization.

On the fear of stem cell research:

I would tell you that my own view is that there is an innate fear of crossing boundaries; people feel secure with boundaries. Why have ideas of chimeras fascinated man for millenia? Minotaurs and mermaids? Why is that so intriguing? If you think about it, the whole idea of classifying animals is that you could find a thing called a species, give a sort of stamp of approval on the idea that there is a natural order, there are boxes, there are shelves where everything has its so-called natural place. What is natural and what is anti-natural changes with time and is a very difficult subject.

People get the heebie-jeebies when you talk to them about putting a human brain into a dog. In fact, I would suggest there are two contexts where I think there might be an interesting connection. There is something like a natural double take when you see a person who's seriously deformed. People mostly say, when you see a burn victim or a person who's had an arm amputated, that the reason you're drawn to look at these poor people is the fear that it could happen to you. I actually think it's something deeper than that. I think it has to do with an affront to this idea of the natural order...

What was the significance of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? Why was Frankenstein considered an important book? It was, in my view, because it addressed what is the essence of being human.

This sort of research is something that has always interested me. I would probably say that personally I am not bound by ethical or moral beliefs against creating a chimera if the research is helping us further science. I think the concept of a human being can, should, and will be blurred in due time. It's not that I'm not religious, it's that I don't believe that humans are at the top of any divine ladder.