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Genetically restoring extinct species. Should it be done?

CountAntonio

CountAntonio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,704
I watched this video below about the top ten candidates for genetic resurrection and wondered if possible how would you feel about this and what species would you bring back?

It made the list and I've always heard it being mentioned because there are so many in tact carcasses preserved in permafrost but seeing a living Wooly Mammoth would be something.
 

Deleted member 16908

Oct 27, 2017
9,377
I've seen a movie about this and it did not turn out well.
 
Vincent Alexander

Vincent Alexander

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,745
In my opinion, no. Until we can learn to take care of the animals we already have, we shouldn't bother putting old ones back on this rock just to die again.
 
Buckle

Buckle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
41,049
Fuck yes.

I want the dodo to get a second chance. <3

But really I just want to pet it
 
Chikor

Chikor

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
14,239
100% yes.
Every extinct animal represents billions of years of evolution and contain in it irreplaceable knowledge.

BasilZero said:
So you want Jurassic Park to be real.
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They ran it as the world most incompetent for-profit amusement park, had a malicious employee sabotage them and still had what? 4 deaths?
That's a good day for Six Flags.
 
adj_noun

adj_noun

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
17,182
We've been so busy asking whether or not we should that we never stopped to ask whether or not we could!

Damn the torpedoes! Clone me a t rex.
 
Fushichou187

Fushichou187

Member
Nov 1, 2017
3,309
Sonoma County, California.
It's an interesting question for sure. I always think about certain ecosystems that go haywire because a natural predator or food source has been removed due to extinction, and if reintroducing it (if you can restore it) would bring things back into balance or just cause a whole new set of problems.

oh and if there's an extinct species that can safely feast on cane toads, I'd say bring that back asap

Napalm_Frank said:
Only if they are delicious.
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and this. Lol I want to make roast dodo for thanksgiving before I die.
 
Mr. Wonderful

Mr. Wonderful

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,291
I think we should, but limited to only animals that went extinct in the last 5000 to maybe 10000 years at most. Basically only things that humans caused the extinction of.

I also would really like to see a Serengeti of the US, where we restore 20,000 acres+ of prairie and savanna in the midwest. The problem is, it's also one of the most fertile regions of the country, and we have a growing global population. I'm not sure if we could give up that kind of food production space.
 
Eoin

Eoin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,103
I've mute-skimmed the video and the ones that I think are missing are the dodo (surely the was on it? I probably just missed it), great auk (a penguin-like bird that lived in the northern Atlantic - they're so penguin-like that penguins are named after it) and the thylacine (a striped marsupial wolf-like animal).

The Artisan said:
Could we bring back a neanderthal?
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Conceivably yes.

I'm unsure what the ethics of that would be though. Most extinct species that we might resurrect could be expected to live in the wild (maybe with extreme difficulty, but that'd be their natural habitat). Neanderthals, however, could potentially integrate into human society. Would we resurrect a sentient humanoid species and expect them to fit in? What if they didn't/couldn't? Or what if they were smarter than humans? I think we should probably keep away from the humanoid species.
 
LookAtMeGo

LookAtMeGo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,136
a parallel universe
One time when I was a kid, I prayed to God to one day let me see a real life raptor. My prayers may still yet be answered.

Would be cool to have a pet saber tooth tiger.
 
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Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,842
Most of them went away for a reason. You'd be introducing potentially invasive species into climates that they were physically forced out of. Where the fuck are you gonna put that mammoth?

If you want to bring back something we wiped out, sure, I guess.
 
Stinkles

Stinkles

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,459
We have already do warped the natural order that restoring a mammoth - which we personally hunted to extinction in a relatively recent time frame (seconds ago in evolutionary terms) wouldn't have a detectable effect on the ecosystem. Same for dodos and all recent human caused extinction victims.
 
Stinkles

Stinkles

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,459
Z-Beat said:
Most of them went away for a reason. You'd be introducing potentially invasive species into climates that they were physically forced out of. Where the fuck are you gonna put that mammoth?

If you want to bring back something we wiped out, sure, I guess.
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Mammoth went away because we ate them all and you can put them in wide open tracts of Europe, Russia and North and south America. Even the arctic.
 
GameShowPresident

GameShowPresident

Member
Mar 5, 2019
557
Random thought, but if a species that we depend on, such as bees, were to go extinct, we probably should be familiar with how to bring then back.
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,842
Stinkles said:
Mammoth went away because we ate them all and you can put them in wide open tracts of Europe, Russia and North and south America. Even the arctic.
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It's debated whether it was due to hunting or climate change. If they were out now it would definitely be climate change
 
Heshinsi

Heshinsi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,092
Stinkles said:
Mammoth went away because we ate them all and you can put them in wide open tracts of Europe, Russia and North and south America. Even the arctic.
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We might as well bring back Dire Wolves, Saber-Tooth Cats, and Cave Bears while we're at it. You know so that these new mammoths don't think they've got the run of the place.
 
PeskyToaster

PeskyToaster

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,312
Extinction is just as natural as anything else. Change is the natural way of life and we should not seek to preserve an artificial stasis. Even if it means something disappearing.
 
Chikor

Chikor

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
14,239
gutter_trash said:
if it was due to natural selection, no

if it was due to human activity, yes
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Man made extinction is still natural selection.
I'm personally not sure that this distinction is all that important when it comes to de-extincting animals, also, the line between what is caused by humans and what isn't is not that clear.
 
808s & Villainy

808s & Villainy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
42,700
It's not a black or white question. If their extinction was from not being able to handle their environment, reviving them would be cruel and subject them to going extinct all over again. If they are from human driven behavior that can be changed, such as poaching/overhunting then maybe

Chikor said:
Man made extinction is still natural selection.
I'm personally not sure that this distinction is all that important when it comes to de-extincting animals, also, the line between what is caused by humans and what isn't is not that clear.
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A species driven to extinction from bring hunted is one that can have it's extinction factor mitigated/dealt with. It's not vague and the distinction can make all the difference
 
nded

nded

Member
Nov 14, 2017
10,563
Probably worth preserving extinct genomes via electronic transcription at least, if that's even possible.
 
Septimus Prime

Septimus Prime

EA
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
8,500
No. What would be the point to turn bring back? Their old habitats and competitors have changed.
LookAtMeGo said:
One time when I was a kid, I prayed to God to one day let me see a real life raptor. My prayers may still yet be answered.

Would be cool to have a pet saber tooth tiger.
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Here you go, bro.

carnivorous-bird-58a6d7923df78c345b5b5b2a.jpg


You can also just go to the zoo, and the will be raptors there.
 
LookAtMeGo

LookAtMeGo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,136
a parallel universe
PeskyToaster said:
Extinction is just as natural as anything else. Change is the natural way of life and we should not seek to preserve an artificial stasis. Even if it means something disappearing.
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What if our ability to bring back species is a natural progression of intelligence? 🤔
Intelligence is is part of the evolutionary chain, no? I believe it is our duty to throw a monkey wrench into things.
 
Chikor

Chikor

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
14,239
808s & Villainy said:
A species driven to extinction from bring hunted is one that can have it's extinction factor mitigated/dealt with. It's not vague and the distinction can make all the difference
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I think you're using the wrong terminology here, I don't think it's terribly matter, I just wanted to point it out. Extinctions caused by humans are still a process of natural selection.
And while there are certain extinctions where you can easily point to humans as being the main or only cause, in many cases it's not that simple. For example, it's not perfectly clear how responsible humans are for the Australian megafauna extinction.
 
Hero_of_the_Day

Hero_of_the_Day

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
17,329
Should we try and save endangered species? And if yes, what difference is there between that and bringing an extinct creature back?
 
Ringten

Ringten

Member
Nov 15, 2017
6,195
I want a real life Jurassic Park. So yes.

But like others have said, let's try our best first to try and save what we do have. Our world is amazing and full of wonders.
 
Eoin

Eoin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,103
gutter_trash said:
if it was due to natural selection, no

if it was due to human activity, yes
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I don't think that should be the distinction point. There's nothing particularly wrong with undoing an extinction by natural selection if the conditions now would allow that species to continue to exist (it is of course pointless to resurrect species that would just go extinct again in short order).

GameShowPresident said:
Random thought, but if a species that we depend on, such as bees, were to go extinct, we probably should be familiar with how to bring then back.
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This is a good point, there might be a stage where we really need a species to be back. We'd need to remove whatever factors were causing their extinction first, of course, but it'd be good to have some practice.

nded said:
Probably worth preserving extinct genomes via electronic transcription at least, if that's even possible.
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Totally possible. One of the most amazing things about DNA is that it's fundamentally digital. You can even do the reverse and use DNA as a storage medium for digital files.
 
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