this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] stray@pawb.social 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Because releasing genetically modified organisms into the wild can have absolutely disastrous consequences on an ecosystem. I think there are cases where the benefits are worth the risks, but pretty lawn is not one of them. Might be nice in the future when we have a better grasp on what we're doing.

[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Thats a great talking point, but it is BS. Humans have been genetically modifying organsims through selective breeding for millenia. Any animal or plant you eat is nothing like it natural origin.

[–] PokerChips@programming.dev 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And they also have plenty of issues.

[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] PokerChips@programming.dev 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sure. The chickens that we get from Costco that can't walk on their own isn't disastrous to me. Especially since I don't eat them.

But I get your point.

The chickens that we've modified to not walk on their own have not yet blown up our world so we accept their mutation.

Yes, the point I was replying to was basically referring to unintended runaway modifications that could be disastrous like horror movie level. Chickens that can't walk is not runaway because... well they can't run, lol, so they also can't breed. If humans died tomorrow, thoses chickens wouldn't be far off.
That said, I support lab grown meat research. So we can stop with the chickens that can't walk. But that won't save the dogs that can barely breath due to selective breeding.

[–] stray@pawb.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

When you said "modify the DNA", I thought you were referring to genetic modification in a laboratory, which is capable of enacting dramatic change in a single generation, including unintentional changes. Selective breeding enacts mild iterative changes over a long period of time, and is therefore much less risky.