These days, something new and weird seems to pop up every day in the complicated realm of information.
And a lot of it is so absurd and ridiculous, you would have a hard time making it up. And much of it is touted as being good for mankind, even though it often appears to me as something opposite of that.
Here are a few examples that showed up in various mainstream media sources within the last couple of weeks.
THE RETURN OF THE DODO
There is a company based in Austin, Texas, called Colossal Biosciences.
The firm was founded in 2021, and on its website, there is a “De-Extinction” page. On the page is the statement, “extinction is a colossal problem facing the world, and Colossal is the company that’s going to fix that.”
You can just hear the arrogance in those words, and you can tell these people clearly have no regard for common sense or Biblical principles.
According to a recent article, a team of Colossal’s “scientists” are working to bring back the dodo bird. But not so fast, it’s not even a real dodo we’re talking about.
The team plans to create a “proxy” version of the bird that has been extinct since the 1660s. In the process, they’ll use “edited” DNA that results in a new dodo that’s not an “exact clone” of the original.
The article (which is posted on the website’s “news” page) says the “proposed dodo-like creature” will be made using genomes painstakingly sequenced from real dodo specimens.
Wait, what?
The same bunch is also working on bringing back the woolly mammoth and other species. If you want to know which others, you can go to the website’s “species” page and read about which have been “selected for de-extinction.”
“We endeavor to jumpstart nature’s ancestral heartbeat,” they say.
They’ll probably set up a theme park where patrons can interact with artificial life forms that want to eat them. God help us.
FRANKENFISH
There’s another team of so-called scientists at Alabama’s Auburn University who aren’t just working on creating a new species, but have already done so.
By injecting alligator DNA into catfish, they’ve come up with a new catfish that (allegedly) lives longer and is more disease resistant.
An article about the project (that’s not hard to find) says the new species’ “survival chances increase by fivefold” and that “thanks to this new method we may see fewer catfish deaths.” It indicates that the gene – cathelicidin – contains “properties that protect reptiles from infections when wounded.”
Wow, cool!
Wait – a reptilian fish? How can anyone believe that this won’t result in something regrettable?
And I’m pretty sure the catfish farming industry could survive just fine without the help of alligators (or people who feel entitled to manipulating God’s creation).
MACHINES NABBING JOBS
A prominent organization in Missouri has released an article about the advances in “autonomy in farming.”
It depicts a new age of farming in which technology supplants humanity.
“Imagine a world where tractors and combines can run without a driver all day and all night,” it says, and “autonomous tractors won’t clock out at the end of the traditional workday or call in sick.”
And this is a good thing? Oh my gosh, are we to the point where the concept of machines replacing people is considered OK?
Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t want machines doing my job. I don’t want them doing hardly anyone else’s job, either.
Hollywood has always shown us glimpses of our future. The 2008 animated movie, “Wall-E” covered the pitfalls of this subject very nicely.
HERE COMES AI
And of course, there’s the rapid rise of “artificial intelligence” (AI) that is so often portrayed as the next best thing to sliced bread.
In an article that recently appeared in several publications, including Popular Mechanics magazine, an AI expert with a company called Translated (based in Rome, Italy) said that AI “singularity” could be only about seven years away. The word singularity is used in AI jargon to describe “the moment AI exceeds beyond human control and rapidly transforms society.”
Keep in mind this “expert” works for a company that condones AI and is involved in advancing it. Nonetheless, the guy obviously recognizes the possibilities.
He says “the data Translated collected clearly shows that machines are not that far from closing the gap,” and that it’s “nearly impossible to know what’s beyond this technological event horizon.”
In my view, that’s an event we don’t want any part of and a horizon we don’t want to approach any closer than we already have. But unfortunately, I’m sure we will.
Anyway, there’s far more of this kind of stuff to be wary of, because the world we live in has gone in that direction with no turning back.
You’ll near people say that “every generation has faced similar situations,” and that “there’s no real danger” of humanity suffering on a widespread scale.
I don’t agree. No generation has ever stood where we all stand right now.
And it’s a precarious place to be standing, and one that could surely lead to a fall.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.