1/. “How is it that scientists are not mystics? Cosmologists not poets? Biologists not shamans? How is it that those to whom the universe reveals such wonders, are not enraptured each day? And each night, how do they close their eyes on this?” (E Warner)
2/. “In the testes of every man are 200 million sperm
& each of those sperm is capable of producing a human life
& each in of those lives will be a soul
& in each of those souls will be a universe
& overnight, each man will produce 200 million more.”
3/. “You ask what I would do with those men who believe themselves to be Gods
My answer is simple
I would take them to the ocean & sail them three days out to sea in my rickety skiff, & I would watch their faces as a whale breached & barreled beside us.”
4/. James Watson, who discovered the structure of DNA, claimed that our fates lie in our genes, not in the stars
He was not a mystic or a poet
As science advances in its grasp of genetics, the further it seems to regress in its understanding of humanity.
5/. Most genome editing is limited to somatic cells & affects only certain tissues. Changes & are not passed from one generation to the next
But germline genome editing could pass changes to future generations, reshaping humanity
“Positive eugenics”?
6/. “You ask forgiveness, not permission” #PeterThiel
Thiel is a right-wing billionaire who set up #Palantir
They run the NHS #COVID data store & are doing the same in dozens of other countries
7/. “We’ve arranged a society based on science & technology, in which nobody understands anything about science & technology. This combustible mixture of ignorance & power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces.” Carl Sagan
That time is now👇
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1/. “Some may argue decisions made by the Dutch govt were just a series of errors of judgement. They were not. They were deliberate decisions. To allow the maximum number of people to get #COVID without overwhelming hospitals.”@SylvanaBIJ1
3/. Palantir, who rptdly taught #CambridgeAnalytica about data scraping, are in charge of the #COVID Data Store in the UK together with #FacultyAI the firm Cummings used for the #VoteLeave referendum campaign
Palantir are doing the same in dozens of other countries #PalantirPlan
The hunt is on for the world's biggest rabbit, stolen from its home in Worcestershire
The ten-year-old Darius, a 4ft 3in-long Continental Giant, was snatched from a rear garden. @AFPu.afp.com/UQut#Darius
Darius may have been stolen to order by a rival rabbit breeder
He can command a £500 appearance fee at functions
He’s on a special diet & - without it - there are fears he may not survive
Darius looks a bit like this rabbit, only 170x bigger #FreeDarius
Wow! The missing rabbit has made it to the @nytimes
"He travelled across the UK for events alongside Ms. Edwards, who often appeared with him dressed as the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit. Darius was insured for $1.6 million 7 traveled with a bodyguard” nytimes.com/2021/04/13/wor…
When the subject moves to ethics, @BorisJohnson becomes more guarded
Asked whether he believes one "can derive the ethics from the science" he avoids answering
Perhaps he’s aware that discussions of genomics can easily slip into the subject of eugenics.
I know!
Most of us switch-off at the mention of “genomics”, but it is crucial to understanding how the world is transforming & how “super forecasters” see the need for society to transform too
This thread👇offers a potted summary of just some of what is going on. #GenomeUK