Why does everyone hate Craig Venter?

[teflon]

This is so weird, I somehow feel like I'm going out on a limb in registering my support for one of the vanguard of human biological and genetic advancement.

JCVI: Home

Possibly because the internet is dominated by America and Greens and Islam, but it seems like Venter is completely persona non grata these days in the world, and it makes me feel ill when proper modern explorers of science are cast as evil magicians who seek to devalue the word of some fucking God or other.

The JCV institute are basically trying to create life from the bottom up. Find the little bits and the combinations of little bits which work together and the results of suchlike, and so forth.

There are narrowminded people who equate this type of research with eugenics and so on, but it's pure science and nobody says we have to ultimately create 'perfect' people with it. But surely it is good to know...

Charlatans and frauds are running scared, and there is trouble on the horizon for this guy when he herds all the huxters into a corral and they turn on him, which is already happening.
I think that is a terrible shame.

[Ashante]

I haven't heard of this guy, or his company, but having a look through the website is really interesting. It's the sort of thing I am learning a lot about atm, genetics, evolution, etc. Looks like those guys are doing some great stuff in biology.

I think the problem is the same as it has always been, when heretics were tortured and witches burned at the stake. The quest for knowledge has always been the antithesis of religion. The more we scientifially discover about the world, from the world being round to evolving from single-celled organisms, the more we disprove the lies religion has been trying to spread for thousands of years.

You can bet these people will stop at nothing to hide the truth, and promote their fallacy, and this is the bit that bugs me the most. Surely a human thirst for knowledge should over-ride the religious leap of faith? Why are people not willing to examine the evidence and make a logical decision, and rather just believe blindly that they've figured it all out a few thousand years ago. I can't decide whether it's stupidity, ignorance, or crowd mentality. Maybe it's just pure faith.

Yes, there are ethical considerations to be made when dealing with things like stem cell research and genetics, we don't want this world to turn into a Gattaca, but those are considerations that should be made without bringing God into the equation. We can be perfectly rational and find a solution that is both scientific and ethical, that lets us further our knowledge in the fields of biology and genetics.

[Detomah]

I really can't say i'd given the fella much of a thought to be honest. Maybe that in itself is wrong, that I don't care enough to have spent time pondering the subject. But the way I see it, this kind of thing always needs a public scapegoat, in order to keep the wolves away from the govermnents door, where i'm sure behind it, far worse/better/extreme/exploritory/radical is being carried out.

The way I now see stuff like this, is that I am gradually looking less and less likely to have children and that all this weird crap that people around the world are doing is going to have very little baring and effect on my life, therefore, I've past the point where I give a shit about it and I have long since started getting very fed up of worrying about crap i've got no personal control over, so now I'm starting not to bother. I just want to live out my life in my own little bubble, naturally.

[Tagred]

Errr who's Craig Venter?

[Ashante]

I watched the Darwin programme Dawkins did on 4, and he interviewed Craig Venter in his labs.

[teflon]

I just watched that on 4od, the part where he tried to tell a bunch of inner city kids was weird.
At the end where they all said stuff like 'Aww, like, I still fink dat god is true and dat, but evurlution is pretty wicked innit.'

[Ashante]

I know, it was shocking. He actually had them holding fossils they'd found that were thousands of times older than the bible, but they were still convinced otherwise >< I hope all schools aren't like that in England, apparently more than half of the new specialist academies are religious institutions. I'll be moving back up to Scotland sooner than I thought >< Fuck letting that happen to my kid.

[Tagred]

LOL i love the way you said that Tef...and Ashy

Take it from me, i feel Dawkins pain as a trained geologist myself sometimes i think i would like to be a teacher, but then, i couldnt handle being told what is and isnt science and decisions made by poeple who only have their own agendas

[Ashante]

I've actually recently been thinking about going to qualify as a teacher and get some sense into these kids before it's too late. My boyfriend made a thread about creationism vs evolution on another forum and the amount of complete ignorance in matters of genetics and evolution is astounding. Children really do need to spend more time on learning important facts like these rather than doing finger painting and doing semester long projects on world religions.

[Tagred]

How is it that we can fail our children so badly? Especially in these times when the education system is being criticised for training kids how not to read, write or do maths. What has fundementally gone wrong?

Maybe those are questions for another thread.