Bring on the Motherfucking Genetic Engineering!

In the latest episode of the Radiolab podcast called "Colors" they interview a scientist who says that with genetic manipulation, it would be incredibly easy to increase the types of color receptors in the human eye from 3 to 18!! It would take about 6 months for the process to work, but at end of it, you could see not only greater variations in the colors we see now, but you'd also have what would be effectively night vision as you could see infrared!

Sadly, no one's started the process to get FDA approval for this yet. I would think that the military would be all over this, as soldiers would no longer need night vision goggles.

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?

Why do I hear Twilight Zone music in the background? Or has Jeff Goldblum been signed for the movie version?

"Help meeee!"

One assumes this isn't reversible.

What makes anyone think that would be a pleasant way to live?

What?
When it's lasik, no one has a problem.

I want the genetic manipulation that keeps me at my optimum weight and gives me irresistible charm.

For normal vision, sure. But for enhanced vision that you can't ever turn off?

So is he saying he can genetically modify living humans, or alter the genetics of eggs to produce this in future offspring?

Would you just listen to yourself?

Do you know what I would give to have normal vision?

That aside, this sounds like being on an unending acid trip. Might be fun for a couple of months but, again, you can't ever turn it off.

(Geordi)
What's normal?

I got all kinds of things I can't turn off.
You deal.

Cool. Between this kind of stuff and the HUD implant they are working, this is an exciting time to be human.

In my lifetime we could see a fork and the creation of what is essentially a new species.

I suspect over time your mind would adjust to the new input and things would settle down. I'd go for it if they proved it safe.

Yeah, I don't see why you'd necessarily WANT to turn it off.

However, I'd be worried about the unintended consequences.

That was another of GR's Magical Thinking moments. As if anyone who was blind and had a remedy for it wouldn't jump at the chance.

And, yeah, I know there's a whole subgroup of deaf people who are eligible for cochlear implants and refuse to get them, but that's more about socialization - not wanting to lose their friends who can't have the implants - than practicality.

That's what I'm talking about. Say you have this done, and a year later you develop incurable migraines. Or the process starts to reverse and you go blind. This isn't something where you can do animal studies to make sure there are no long-term disasters.

So...its one step closer to being this guy?

Dude, the fork was invented centuries ago!

What he's really saying is "fork you".

Living humans. You get the shot, you get the benefits. From the way he described it, you would not be able to pass it on to your kids, but the subject never came up, so I can't say for sure.

He didn't mention anything about side effects in the chimps they tested it on.

So it's a shot? Kind of like Retinax 5, or an inoculation where you'd need to get periodic boosters (so if you didn't like the effects, you could just let them wear off)?

The latter might be more appealing.

Tis why ethicists insist on EXTENSIVE pre testing before applying GM's to humans.
Sure, you have night vision. But you might also get increased chance of cancer as well.

This is what you'll look like after said injections:

Why, exactly?
Sounds like pure emotionalism to me.

If you have everything you have, PLUS the new stuff, and you don't LOSE anything, what would be the problem?

I could see if it were like Geordi, where he doesn't have visual band, but has everything else, and it's so overwhelming he has to train his mind to even get images out of the EM field mess he gets.

I wouldn't swap off to that for anything.

But, what I've got, PLUS, and I can chuck my glasses to boot?

Yeah, why not?


Adapting to super-vision's gotta be more fun and motivating to adapt to than the constant strain of fending off madness from tinnitis.

So what?

Screw "normally expected to have".

A lot of us are living past what the "normal", lifespan was a couple hundred years ago.

Hell, factoring in vaccines that saved our parents, and grandparents, by the standards of "normal", all of us shouldn't even exist.

Adapting to the supervision would be no more stressful than adapting to wearing glasses, in all liklihood.

This...

(A) There are no do-overs

(B) You'd have to literally be able to look through my eyes to get it

ETA: OTOH, if science ever developed a bionic eye that could match my left-side vision with my right (even at 20/100), I'd buy into that.

Maybe if I had Wolverine's regenerative powers, I could quit skipping out on running stairs or going to kickboxing class because of my fucking achilles tendon.

Indeed - the military tap-dances around FDA approval when it's convenient like with the Anthrax vaccine. The vaccine side effects were way, way worse than they were advertised. 44 folks dead, thousands FUBAR for life. My wife met a military dependent wife who's husband (Navy for 23 years) is now medically discharged because he's paralized with MS type symptoms. The best part - the government only rates him at 60 percent disabled! Research the Anthrax debacle if you want to get so pissed off your head will likely explode.

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