Materialist Rhetoric: The Splice

A rat embryo. Image Source: Science Pictures ltd/SPL via Science.

This week, I am highlighting vocabulary which is being used by materialists to explain their long term goals and beliefs. I will then expand on where all this is going. For today, a news headline from The Post Millennial: Japanese scientists to grow rat embryos spliced with 30 percent human DNA. The plan is to grow human organs inside animals, and the word 'splice' is equated with 'help.' The plan was explained in Nature on 26 July 2019:

"A Japanese stem-cell scientist is the first to receive government support to create animal embryos that contain human cells and transplant them into surrogate animals since a ban on the practice was overturned earlier this year.

Hiromitsu Nakauchi, who leads teams at the University of Tokyo and Stanford University in California, plans to grow human cells in mouse and rat embryos and then transplant those embryos into surrogate animals. Nakauchi's ultimate goal is to produce animals with organs made of human cells that can, eventually, be transplanted into people.

Until March, Japan explicitly forbade the growth of animal embryos containing human cells beyond 14 days or the transplant of such embryos into a surrogate uterus. That month, Japan’s education and science ministry issued new guidelines allowing the creation of human–animal embryos that can be transplanted into surrogate animals and brought to term. ...

Nakauchi says he plans to proceed slowly, and will not attempt to bring any hybrid embryos to term for some time. Initially, he plans to grow hybrid mouse embryos until 14.5 days, when the animal’s organs are mostly formed and it is almost to term. He will do the same experiments in rats, growing the hybrids to near term, about 15.5 days. Later, Nakauchi plans to apply for government approval to grow hybrid embryos in pigs for up to 70 days."

See all posts in the What's Left Over? series on materialism and anti-materialism in technological advancement.