“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
— Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
Amidst the Christian nationalist-tinged chaos in the United States, Dallas lab denizens from Colossal Biosciences have decided to “de-extinct” a carnivore that died out over 12,500 years ago.
The ethics of such a decision to “resurrect” an extinct species — and ironically announce it during the month of Easter — are dubious at best. I mean, we’ve definitely not listened to the warnings of George Orwell or Margaret Atwood lately, so what makes us think we’ll listen to Michael Crichton?
Still, it’s not really about bringing an animal back from extinction. “De-extinct” is a clever ruse Colossal has marketed — and that some publications have eagerly used in their headlines.
The aforementioned dire wolf, however, is just a hybrid that has been conscripted, unwittingly, to contribute its partial DNA to be combined with essence du loup gris.
The CEO — Ben Lamm — at the helm of this intriguing “milestone” is far from the John Hammond type, but probably equally blind. His partner in the endeavour is this world’s Dr. Henry Wu: Dr. George Church.
Lamm. Church. Easter. The names themselves, sounding religious, make me snicker. It’s purely coincidental, but the irony isn’t lost on me. Especially considering Lamm’s alma mater, Baylor, is affiliated with Baptists. It’s also located in Waco, Texas … Branch Davidians, anyone?
Coincidences, naturally. But still fun to point out.
Corey Bradshaw, a professor of global ecology at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, was skeptical of Colossal’s efforts. He told CNN in a Zoom interview that the technology just isn’t available (yet) to bring the dire wolf back from extinction.
He likened the experiment to merely upgrading gray wolf DNA, rather than reviving the Game of Thrones pets that belonged to the Stark family. Of course, I laughed at his joke, but that doesn’t mean people won’t try.
Private genetic companies are going to be part of the world that’s coming, just like AI, whether we like it or not. All the tech bros are frothing at the thought of the next wave and are eager to expand their oligarchies across the Western world for this very reason — to go unchecked.
Sure, those three-month-old dire wolf pups look cute, but how big will they get? How long will they live? And what will some humans do with these creatures?
America has such an amazing track record with wolves, after all. To be fair, the blight called humanity has loved to malign wolves throughout our existence. Maybe during the Beast of Gévaudan times — the legendary wolf-like predator in rural France — it was warranted, as guns were in short supply in rural 18th-century France and women and children were being dragged off.
But don’t let me fall victim to cynicism just yet. My curiosity is piqued. As with any scientific advancement, sometimes it turns out okay. But anything can be weaponized, and these days, those who do the weaponizing are the ones in power.
Most of the world’s wealth is being squirrelled away by billionaires who are turning into real-life Lex Luthors minute by minute. If they want a dire wolf pup as a pet — to torture snooping journalists or entertain other billionaires as they sip 55-year-old Japanese whiskeys and slap their thighs saying, “Bully!” — then so be it.
Ethics. What are those, right? We are living in the Anthropocene after all, even though some scientists have pooh-poohed the idea of formally naming this epoch that.
Where do we draw the line when it comes to nature? Will we “de-extinct” animals that allegedly may still exist, like the thylacine or the moa? Will some rich billionaire make his own Holocene Park, charging excessive amounts so only the privileged offspring of oligarchs can see a megatherium or a mastodon? Or, because no one asked for it, a smilodon?
I doubt it — but if anything is predictable, it’s that life will find a way to exist on this planet, with or without our meddling.
Photo courtesy Colossal Biosciences