Ms. Nip here captures, in my humble opinion, the essence of where new technologies in genetic engineering like CRISPR^[1] seem to be taking us ... to the stars. And, by extension to her argument, it is yet another herald of the ongoing transformation of human animal into a transcendental liminality^[2] where the Platonistic and Aristotelian dichotomy unite.

Lisa Nip:

How humans could evolve to survive in space

Footnotes:

JC Martinez-Sifre  4 months ago

To the question of: "Even if we could edit human genes safely and precisely, why would we do so ..."

Why? To colonize Mars and survive Climate Change.

There a whole lot of flora and fauna already out there that thrive in exotic environments. Besides the treatment or eradication of diseases and the issue of designer babies, CRISPR makes any strand of DNA from any species current or even extinct a candidate for splicing into the human genome.

I've heard that there's an active effort to un-extinct the woolly mammoth. It's not a far stretch to think of humans who can tolerate interstellar space with a bit of DNA from Tardigrades or photosynthetic people who breath CO2 and fart ozone. And, it's not unreasonable to think that the knowledge of how to do that effectively is in the not-too-distant future. After all, Custer's last stand and Armstrong's stepping onto the moon happened in the span of a single lifetime.

^[2] An audio blurb: Terrence McKenna: what it's like when the species prepares for hyperspace

Original Source:

Podcast 386 – “Loose Ends Time”

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Lorenzo