Genetic Engineering: Giving Animals Consciousness

Last post , I talked about how the first animal was created, the one to have consciousness. I touched on how this will affect the courts, and how every legal document would have to be changed to accommodate the new species. And as a parallel event, the turmoil that is caused by the public realization and acceptance (and lack thereof) that there is an animal capable of creating their own unique thought like a human is. How would it play out if the animal was a pet species? I also touched on an early societal events sparked by the announcement including but limited to the social movements immediately born after the event. The endless news stories, periodicals, and blogs that touch on this. What will I be doing when the event happens? Nonetheless, now we can take a look on the global level. For this hypothetical, I will stay with the assumption the United States are the ones to create the animal. The World and the United Nations Say what you want about the United Nations, inte...

The deed is done. A supposed animal now has consciousness deep within the confines of a lab is now somewhat or fully able to reason, think, and communicate. While actually forming the words with a distended mouth may be a harder event to think about, the final ruling is official. Of course, now the wide effects have to be considered. Can these animals be considered pets anymore? Can they be sold? Would they be able to lead lives of their own, apart from humans. This makes me think that this is where I really want to branch out with the theoretical here. Now into social order, now into law, now into integration. I.e. the stuff I really don't know much about but would like to think about. Not necessarily all in this blog; I'll try to lightly touch on each, but the bigger projects would definitely come later. Courts There's still, turmoil, uncertainty, and excitement everywhere. And bear in mind, a lot of documents will have to be changed as an effect. Should Congress rec...

It seems I'm holding up a bit of a story line. Personally, that's what I wanted. Because what happens next is less scientific and more hypothetical in regards to how a person would react, how the researchers would react. And because it seems like I'm adding new tags all the time, and hardly reusing old ones. And lastly, as terrible as it sounds, how the world and media would react. After supposedly a few trials where an animal, dog, cat, tiger cub, wolf, cow, or any type of animal would affect the entire lab. "I Passed?" Brain scans are  the more obvious way to analyze the workings of what happens in the brain. MRIs, which emit radio ways to the brain in a super strong magnetic field. (Why did I include that in there? Because that was the only takeaway from a bioimaging class I had.) It would be necessary to compare the brain activities in the frontal lobe to see how well they mirror humans' brains. And of course, there would be a plethora of tests. And...

An internet board of college or high school memes will often feature consistent content about tests and the like. How obsessive they are, how continuous they are, and how endless they are. Seeing as a new animal will achieve consciousness will be tested, its... something to mark a new era of humanhood to an animal... with a test. Specifically, which ones? This is probably the most famous test in establishing higher consciousness and what we call a qualia. A qualia, in some terms, is the definition of the receiving of consciousness. It's actually hard to define, because unfortunately, it's so innate. It's so normal. It's so... us. And not all animals have it. The lower animals only seek to carry out their life instincts, and what is often unchanging life instruction to achieve homeostasis. The kingdom Cnidaria and Porifera, (basically jellyfish and sponges) both have very loose networks of neuroganglion that can communicate and receive environmental stimuli. But what d...

Some people say they have spiritual connections with animals. Spending so much time with animals surely grants a person a sense of familiarity (understatement of the year). In essence, we feel like we can read our pet cat, hamster, snake like a book. And they in turn know us. But where does that empathy come from? Does it stretch from our ability to empathize with them? Or their ability to empathize with us? Or both. I would strongly lean towards the former: We empathize. with animals. Which explains why we can see so many commercials about cruelty and donation to ASPCA. As a tangent, I made it a personal mission to avoid donating to organizations that do this: If you don't donate, chances are you'll turn off the TV or change the channel. If you do, chances are you're already donating, and therefore probably don't need a reminder. But in either case, let's play with using the word 'who' over 'what' when I say which animal to use for eventual 'gi...

I was never the type of person to wake refreshed. When I saw the commercials on TV as a kid about adults struggling to get up in the morning, then bragging about how they woke up alert, refreshed, and the like when they got a new mattress, pill, pillow, or candle, I thought it was something out of the ordinary. Only this past week have I been able to wake up refreshed but even so. At no point have I been able to wake up feeling like I could run my usual three miles. (To be technical, yes it was when I was late to a class, but that's a tangent.) Awakening So what would an animal feel or think? I realize in the last post I made there was a definite decision on the matter of modifying from birth versus adolescent or late life, but let's still play around here. What sort of awakening would it be? Let's be realistic for a second and not take a cue from the movies. The recent 2011 movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes , contained a scene, where SPOILERS , the lead ...

Fun Fact: Did you know that according to Live Science , FOXP2 is the gene responsible for human speech. Summarily, it is the differences within this gene across chimpanzees and humans that according to researcher Daniel Geschwind allows for the different abilities to communicate, and as I hinted to in the previous post, requires development of cranial muscle movements; something the gene has the full capacity to talk. Interestingly enough, the article concludes with the hyoid bone, a sliver of bone shaped like a U developed within our throats that gives us the ability to talk. Is this fun fact a big detail? Yes. Did I include it because I forgot to mention in the previous article? Absolutely. Now on to other matters... How Can It Start Try to picture the first time you had pizza. Surely the hot steamy vapors of gooey cheese, succulent juicy sausage (or pepperoni) with that fluffy buttery crust. If not, then consider the last time you had pizza. How would you rate the quality...

The idea of a genetically engineered organism is hailed as a sci-fi creation is, to the general population. To others more aware, the consensus is that GMO's, or genetically modified organisms in our food, are an 'experiment on the masses.' Regardless, it's happening. Whether individuals like it or not. I won't get into the debate of whether GMO's are good for us or not. So what's the likelihood an animal can receive consciousness? What are the chances of this happening? Realistically, probably really low. The amount of information stored in our DNA that we don't know yet is truly remarkable. We all know that the four defining molecules in DNA giving the actual information are adenine, which pairs with thymine, and  cytosine, which pairs with guanine. We can assume that one single base pair can hold 4 bytes, as demonstrated below. DNA Data Possibilities There are 6e9 base pairs in a human cell according to bitesizebio.com. Divide that in hal...