Warnings have been issued to scientists that their recent experiments might unintentionally create monkeys with brains that are more human than animal.
In groundbreaking experiments, researchers have injected human brain cells into monkey fœtuses for the purpose of studying the effects.
Those critical of this research contend that should these fœtuses develop into conscious beings, it would lead science into an ethical quagmire.
A distinguished committee of American scientists intends to advocate for limitations on this research, asserting that the results of such studies are unpredictable and might indeed create subjects possessing a “super-animal” level of intelligence. This influential committee, composed of animal behaviorists, lawyers, philosophers, bio-ethicists, and neuro-scientists, was formed four years ago to investigate the increasing instances of human/monkey experimentation.
These methods, referred to as “human-primate chimeras,” entail the merging of human and monkey cells, tissues, and DNA to investigate their effects and explore whether such a combination could genuinely exist. Chimeras are legendary creatures from Greek mythology that fused together parts from lions, goats, and snakes.
The committee is set to soon release its findings in the prominent journal Science. In its report, the committee will tackle disconcerting questions such as whether the incorporation of human cells into non-human primate brains could induce “significant physical or biochemical alterations that make the brain more human-like” and how these changes could be identified. Furthermore, the committee will look into how observable differences in the monkeys’ brains—like emotional or behavioral shifts, or indications of “self-awareness”—could be assessed and managed.
“Our objective was to anticipate potential challenges, as we recognized that if science were to pursue that avenue, it could entail various moral dilemmas,” remarked Dr. Ruth Faden, the committee’s co-chairman and a professor of biomedical ethics.
An unconventional author, John Crowley, has written a science fiction novel titled Beasts that explores this very notion.
In that scenario…I wonder what impact it might have on frogs…?
But on a serious note, what could be the outcome?
Perhaps we could administer recreational drugs and let it roam free at night for some wild adventures, adorn it with tattoos, and give it a black wig—voilà…unbeknownst to us, we may have just cloned Amy Winehouse.
by David Livingstone
