Obsidian Wings

But Will They Be Named Dolly?

by wj

Buried (at least for me) in the flood of political news these past weeks was something potentially far more important. It appears that a researcher in China has made the first human embryo gene edit.

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/12/01/a-maverick-researcher-claims-to-have-created-gm-children

It is perhaps not surprising that the guy who did it is not actually trained in reproductive research. His degree is in biophysics (from Rice University in Texas) with additional work at Stanford University on DNA.

Another surprise: he wasn't trying to correct a genetic defect (say something like sickle cell anemia). Rather he was trying to create an immunity to HIV transmission -- which can already be dealt with via cleansing during IVF.

Still, it's the first step towards a couple of science fiction staples: a) genetic cleaning, or b) genetic enhanced human beings. Depending on your view of how technology is likely to get used. There has, not surprisingly, been an outcry. Some of it because the work wasn't in accord with the law (even in China), some because there is some question whether the parents were clearly informed about what he was proposing to do, some because the technology isn't to the point where you can be sure that you will get the edit you want while not getting changes you didn't intend.

There has not, that I have seen (as noted, I barely caught this at all), been any outcry about "playing God" or about the threat of artificial supermen. But given the reaction, a couple decades back, to cloning (and that was only a sheep, not a human being), not to mention to GMO foods, it seems likely to happen once people actually notice. Perhaps after the kids (there appear to be 2 or 3) are born....

We live in interesting times.

And now for something...

by JanieM

When I go to Cambridge on the bus or train, I make sure to take some light reading. Literally light: paperback, nothing that will add too much weight to my luggables. But most of the time it's figuratively light too: mysteries, mostly.

This past time I decided to wake myself up a bit. I gazed across my shelves the night before and made a little stack of options: Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom, Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, and The Last Chronicle of Barset, by Trollope. Quite varied, none of them short, and two of them extra challenging. I had read all of them before, the first two more than once but not in at least a couple of decades.

The next morning I chose Faulkner to take along, and was as bowled over as ever. If I could write sentences like that I would call myself a writer. (Samwise: "If I could grow apples like that I would call myself a gardener.")

So then I decided, well, there were several Faulkners I loved when I was younger (I've by no means read everything he wrote), especially Go Down, Moses. I had never liked The Sound and the Fury, and I do still wonder why they made us read (part of) it in high school, but I thought well, I'm fifty years older now, maybe it will strike me differently this time.

Nope.

But I'm halfway through a re-re-re-re-reading of Go Down, Moses, and also a good bit of the way into American Nations, which strikes me as a little too...sure of itself, or something, but still fun and fascinating, and a welcome antidote to the current pit of "us and them" that we're lost in. It's not a bad idea to be reminded that underneath the oversimplification, it's more like "us and us and them and us and them and them and those other folks, too."

Oh, and I also read Alexander Chee's collection of essays called How to Write and Autobiographical Novel recently, and liked it a lot. Then I tried Edinburgh, the autobiographical novel in question, and didn't like it as well as the essays, which were also autobiographical.

Otherwise, I'm buried in work and will remain so for at least the next six weeks. Sigh.

Anyone else reading anything interesting?

Open thread.

Thanks and Giving Open Thread

by Ugh

One wonders if Saudi Arabia had just "oopsied" a JDAM on Khashoggi if there would have been any fuss. 

Whatever.

It appears that my 3.5 month 7 month basement project is nearing completion such that the kids can finally go down there and annihilate one another with Nerf guns (wearing the appropriate eye protection, of course).  The "big" cousins are coming so they are excited.  Also the 7YO wrote a nice letter to Obama saying that he had "heard" Obama was a very good President once.  Will alert y'all if Obama replies.

I hope everyone can enjoy the turkey day, with or without the turkey, with or without company.  We are hosting, so, whee.

Good times, good times.

Open thread.

An open thread under the bridge downtown

by Ugh

I could not get enough.

Donald Trump continues as President of the United States of America, having been nominated by the "Party of Lincoln" no less.  

Not that Micheal Pence could carry that banner with any more authenticity.

OT

nuff said...

by liberal japonicus

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2018/nov/12/stan-lees-best-marvel-cameos-video

Excelsior!

So it begins...

by liberal japonicus

Well, that was quick.. An open thread for that.

A Tuesday thread

by liberal japonicus

Well, Tuesday's here and the world hasn't ended, but unfortunately, my Tuesday is a US Monday... Anyway, an open thread to put your observations in.

The Calm Before the Thynder - Open Thread

by Ugh

Vote Tuesday, he said, expecting the answer no.

I'll be in Silicon Valley then, having turned in my absentee ballot in races so one sided that "some" might say maximizing utility would be better spent watching the Haunting of Hill House, which I had to turn off last night (I'm 45 years old, tho I loved that Henry Thomas was cast in that episode - he deserved an Oscar for E.T.).  

What other Mules are out there? Are they only negative? I think not, or hope not what not. 

Open thread.