Wednesday, December 19, 2012

WEEKLY NEWSREEL – 3 1/2 TIME-OUTS TUESDAY (VOL. 55)

Good evening Mr. & Mrs. Catholic, and all you other Christians at sea. It’s time again for another Newsreel, brought to you as usual by the fine folks at Acts of the Apostasy, home of the 3 1/2 Time-Outs Tuesday and bane of liturgical puppets everywhere. Now off to press.

I

We give scientists (and occasionally Notre Dame) a lot of grief here at the Newsreel, so it’s nice to be able to report they’re both up to something reasonable for a change. To start off the new year properly, The University of Notre Dame's John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values has announced its first ever list of emerging ethical dilemmas and policy issues in science and technology. Among the concerns the center sees on the horizon for scientists and laypeople alike include the possible hacking of medical devices (boobytrapped pacemakers), driverless zipcars (the Googlemobile), the potential abuse of 3-D printing (please wait, your bomb is being queued). And because the Catechism explains that “medical and scientific experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives.,” the center is very concerned over the possibility of human-animal hybrids. Because, you know, that never goes very well, does it…

II

Oh well, at least it will probably take a while for scientists to get around to creating manimals. They’ll probably start tampering with something small first, like say insects. Like sometime real soon. According to an article in the Daily Mail, “Hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes are awaiting federal approval for release into the Florida Keys as part of an experiment aimed at reducing the risk of dengue fever… The trial planned by mosquito control officials and the British company Oxitec would release non-biting male mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to pass along a birth defect that kill their progeny before reaching maturity… Only female mosquitoes bite, so the modified genetic material wouldn't be passed on to humans, Mosquito control and Oxitec officials said.” Sure, why not? What could possibly go wrong with releasing genetically modified insects into the human population…

III

You know, if scientists just have to tamper with animals, maybe they should start with something that would have no affect on humans. For instance, ScienceDaily notes that “research conducted by Henkjan Honing, professor of Music Cognition at the UvA, and a team of neurobiologists headed by Hugo Merchant from the UNAM, shows that rhesus monkeys cannot detect the beat in music.” That doesn’t really seem fair, so we think scientists should spend some time teaching primates to read music. That way they could recognize the beat when it comes around. Wouldn’t that be a sweet thing to do for our simian friends? And besides, what conceivable consequences to humanity could possibly result from making monkeys smarter…

III 1/2

Well. It looks like we’re doomed if we do and doomed if we don’t. So what the heck, let’s just go ahead and make dragons…

And with that, we sign off this edition of the Newsreel, as is our custom, with the immortal words of the great Les Nessman. Good evening, and may the good news be yours.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Blech. I've been following the generically modified mosquito project for a while now. Breaks my heart every time I see it surface again.

EegahInc said...

I know they're confident the fatal birth defect producing condition can't be transmitted to humans, but there just seems to be so many ways that could go wrong.

Anonymous said...

Ever seen the movie "Freejack"? It wasn't a B-movie officially, but...seems like there's plenty o'tie-ins to the catechism to be made there. And I'd argue Mick Jagger makes in an honorary B-movie.

(the whole cloning/hybrid thing makes me think of "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" which is terribly good but waaay too dark to read right before Christmas)

Xena Catolica

EegahInc said...

I was still working in theaters when Freejack came out, so I saw it lots. With jagger AND David Johansen in it, it reeks of B-ness. I think we can do something with Freejack, unless of course you're ready for that guest post...

Anonymous said...

I'd love to see what you do with "Freejack"! I might take you up on the guest post someday, 'though, for another movie. A blessed Christmas to you & your family--y'all are all in my prayers.

Xena Catolica

EegahInc said...

Fair enough. Merry Christmas!

Arkanabar T'verrick Ilarsadin said...

Well, there's stories out there that COVID relied upon, and all new treatments for it rely upon, mice with human tissues implanted and grown within:
https://stream.Org/to-save-ourselves-from-covid-were-sacrificing-children-part-i/
https://stream.Org/to-save-ourselves-from-covid-were-sacrificing-children-part-2-humanized-mice/
https://stream.Org/to-save-ourselves-from-covid-were-sacrificing-children-part-3-more-baby-parts-are-needed-all-the-time/
https://stream.Org/to-save-ourselves-from-covid-were-sacrificing-children-part-iv/
https://stream.Org/to-save-ourselves-from-covid-were-sacrificing-children-part-v/

EegahInc said...

Yeah, the Vatican addressed that. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-12/us-bishops-covid-clarification-ethical-use-vaccine.html

A little wishy-washy, but they're the teaching authority, so what are you gonna do?