The Undead Are Coming!

The last edition of The New York Times Magazine featured an eight-page article about bringing extinct species back to life. I've posted a link here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/magazine/the-mammoth-cometh.html?_r=0.

I honestly was going to read it, but I don't really have the time or motivation to read an eight-page article, so after the first 3 pages, I got distracted and started doing something else. I did, however, get a summary from my father, and I kind of got the idea from what I did read. (I just lost all credibility on this topic, didn't I?)

Basically, this guy wanted to use DNA from taxidermied passenger pigeons in museums. Foolproof plan, right? He conveniently overlooks the fact that some strands of DNA would be dead because the passenger pigeons are so old and DNA from bacteria could get mixed in. Somebody else, whose passion seems to be not for passenger pigeons but ecological unrest, wanted to bring back mammoths. Yes. MAMMOTHS. He figures mammoths will live in the Arctic, eat grasses, and promote growth of the Arctic tundra.

What they give as the biggest reason this is a good idea? I quote, "it would be really cool." Now, I have never, in my almost 14 years of existence, a better reason to start a project that has the potential to destroy all the ecosystems on Earth. Well, of course it would be cool, excuse me for not realizing that, after all, doesn't all life on Earth exist purely for Stewart Brand's amusement?

I agree with them that humans have done terrible things to the planet's life. A single flock of passenger pigeons used to black out the Sun for hours when it flew by. There were billions of passenger pigeons only a few years before its extinction in 1914. But we need to move on. A valid concern mentioned in the article is that this "cool" project could halt conservation efforts because if you can bring back species so easily, why try to save them? If you have to animate dead animals and use laboratory tools to bring them back, I think that is going too far. That is not what we need right now. I also see a huge ethical problem with this, similar to people's concerns about cloning. I don't think it is fair to either the animal whose DNA you are taking nor the animal you create. Everybody has a right to die. I wouldn't want to be brought back. I want to die.

Also, how far are you willing to go? Bringing back passenger pigeons is one thing. Mammoths are quite another. This could easily get headed down the wrong track. Sure, it would be cool to see a T-rex. That doesn't mean we should bring one to 2014. Have you ever seen Jurassic Park? That is supposed to be a warning. Stop now!