Interesting article. Thanks.

Jeremy Rifkin is called a “biotechnology activist” in the column. I’ve known about him since I was an undergrad. He’s more of an anti-biotechnology animal-rights radical. The money quote about him:

"… he believes animals have the right to exist without being tampered with or crossed with another species. He concedes that these studies would lead to some medical breakthroughs. Still, they should not be done."

Oh, yeah? Where would those animal rights come from? Who grants these rights? The animals certainly don’t and can’t claim these rights for themselves.

The quote by Irv Weissman that you cite makes him sound like a mad scientist who doesn’t want pesky ethical limitations in the way of his grand discoveries. And the funny thing is that right after that, the article says “Weissman said he's not a mad scientist trying to create a human in an animal body.” No, you’re a mad scientist trying to learn about the human brain. BRAIN! MUST HAVE BRAINS! Ahem. Sorry.

The idea that humans would eventually create creatures that eventually claim their right to self determination and turn against their creator is as old as Shelly’s Frankenstein, but I think Isaac Asimov explored the idea best in his robot stories. Something like that will eventually happen and I hope that the scientists/engineers who make the creatures are religious and have read some science fiction first.