Achievements and Controversy
It is hard to believe that this interesting science fiction Blood Music written in the 1980s. Even now I don’t feel that it is too old. More precisely
speaking, although
science fiction of gene technology has been mentioned a lot, Blood Music is
still a good read.
The short
version of the novel is better. Brand new evolution means that most basic of
sacrifice including humans, animals, and even the entire external environment.
Evolutionary itself is selfish, without compassion or morality. Which is great.
The second part of the story is mostly pure spectacle description
(although is still quite brilliant). Human
characters only as a spectator free from the event, seems like little odds compare to the first part of the story. I can
hardly get the point of the role of the women, which is more difficult to
understand than Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem (translate by Ken Liu).
Blood Music raises some interesting hypothesis and questions. What if everyone in a company or country developing by what they think
the most efficient way, is it really good for collective? Or
it will destroy everything?
This novel also reminds me of a movie that I was very impressed ——Gattaca. In the future,
the power of technology is stronger than anything else. Genes determine the
fate almost become the rule. Vincent has a dream of become a astronaut. But he
is one of the last “nature babies” who with defective genes. Until he met Jude
Law (Jerome), which is a genetically-enhanced man. They decided to exchange
identity. These could be happened in a not too distance future. Today, we are
doing several genome editing things, not only on plants and animals, but also
on human.
For
example, RPE65 is a genetic eye disease. The patient will be blind with time. After gene therapy, the retina get recovery. This is a mature gene therapy and
only allows on adults. But, since this disease is genetic, can we editing human
embryonic gene before the baby was born?Last year, biology magazine Protein and Cell
published a paper by Chinese associate professor Jun Huang in Zhongshan University, China. They used a tool called CRISPR/cas9 successfully
modified multiple human zygotes’ gene. It was the first paper of human
embryonic genome editing that was published1. This also rekindled a major controversy
of life science ——Whether human beings should modify its genes.
Actually about
two years ago, Kunming Institute of Zoology（China）use CRISPR/cas9 system made
two genetically-enhanced macaques. Which proved the CRISPR/cas9 in primates
on the feasibility2. Since then,
editing human genes is just a matter of time.
An
opinion think that the genome editing technology can be used to help patients
with genetic disease, so that they and their descendants are exempted from the
nightmare of family disease. In fact, since the CRISPR/cas9 technology came
out, it already has a series of animal experiments showing that, for both
embryonic and adult, it can achieve the efficacy that tradition treatment even
can not compare with. If it can approach used on human, the number of benefices
will be countless. The opposite opinion said that if the modified genes can be genetic, may cause
unintended consequence in the future. Jun Huang’s team also considered ethical
issues. They deliberately chose some deformity fertilized eggs. But even so, this experiment was
caused controversy.
Present,
some European countries are prohibit human genome editing by law. In
United States, such kind of experiments can only
studying under strict control and use non federal funding. Some scientists
worry that, because the quality control for the embryonic genome modification
is difficult, do the genetically-enhanced people can not determine the actual
effect. Many harmful effects maybe found after birth, even after many years of
the baby birth, it will slowly unfold.
However, genome editing is such an
exciting technology tool. It is bringing those science fiction predictions to
the real world one by one. Once a precedent,
this is a road that can not be back. I’m
really looking forward to see the world become like Gattaca or Blood Music.
My favorite is the last sentence in Blood Music: “They had
found universes in grains of sand.”
“To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
——William Blake”
2 Niu, Y., Shen, B., Cui, Y., Chen, Y., Wang, J., Wang,
L., ... & Sha, J. (2014). Generation of gene-modified cynomolgus monkey via
Cas9/RNA-mediated gene targeting in one-cell embryos. Cell, 156(4), 836-843.
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