this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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Capitalism always finds a way...
From all the uses one could find to CRISPR, this is probably one of the dumbest.
Making paper? Capitalizzum. Marx would have cried if he heard people equate economy and production with capitalism.
Here's my point. We live under global capitalism. It's just how things are, right?
And capitalism, just like, say, life, has its ways. It creates an environment where certain outcomes are more likely than others.
Making an observation about it does not make me partial to other systems. I have no such preference. What I observe is just that capitalism, just like life, always finds a way—its way.
I heard someone mentioned the danger of using CRISPR to make better soldiers. It's crazy, right? But why isn't crazy to tinker with a tree? Yes, it may make those trees a better product. And all seems good. But once you do that to the tree, and it becomes profitable, the incentive is there to make that true for everything else.
I think it's dumb because such power (CRISPR) should be treated with great care. Curing a disease? Go for it. But be careful. Now, to make a better product? I dunno, it just rubs me the wrong way.
Perhaps I'm not seeing the whole picture. Or maybe I should take some bioethics class again.
But whatever may be the case, my point is not there all proletariat the world over should unite.
I mean I guess one of the biggest arguments for gene editing is that humans have been modifying the genetics of plants and animals for thousands of years, to the great benefit of humankind. While this was through selective breeding, gene editing is fundamentally a very similar ethical question.
Without genetic modification, it would have been beyond impossible to feed everyone, or even get somewhat past subsistence farming.
Modifying humans, however, is a totally different question to mosifying trees.
Dogs are a good example of how wonderful our selective breeding has been. Well, it's great for us, no doubt. Who doesn't love a tiny tiny dog? But for the dog? Probably not the best.
Cool, we have better paper making factories with better trees for the purpose. But what about all the unknown unknowns of changing the genes of the tree? How will that affect the environment? Is this carefully tested, monitored, giving it enough time to truly understand the consequences? Or are we just breeding a nice cute little dog again, without caring about what happens to the thing modified?
You see, this has nothing to do with taking sides. I wonder. Just that. And yeah, it still feels dumb to me. But being no expert, perhaps reality will prove me wrong. I do hope so, because I hope for a brighter future, not a gloomy one.
I agree that it seems like there should be some sort of tradeoff for editing genetics. It's hard to say how these types of trees might affect aspects of the environment, such as soil composition or the surrounding wildlife. With that being said, I eat genetically modified food every day, so what do I know.