this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
1384 points (98.6% liked)

Science Memes

13473 readers
2489 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 98 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (9 children)

I think a really exceeding important clarification here is he edited the genomes of human embryos, not babies. Babies are already born humans, embryos are a clump of cells that will become a baby in the future. I do not condone gene editing without consent, which is what he did, and yes there is lots of questionable ethics around gene editing but he did NOT experiment on babies. This should be made clear especially in a science based community, memes or not.

Implying that babies are the same thing as embryos is fundamentally incorrect, in the same way a caterpillar is not a butterfly and a larva is not a fly, the distinction is very important.

EDIT To add further detail - One of the reasons this is so unethical is that he experimented on human embryos that were later born and became babies. His intent was always to create a gene edited human, but the modifications were done while they were embryos, not live babies.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I understand what you're saying, but his experiment allowed the embryos to come to term and be born as human babies. Scientists have worked with human embryos before and avoided similar outcry by not allowing them to develop further (scientific outcry, not religious). Calling his work an experiment on human embryos ignores the fact that he always intended for his work to impact the real lives of real humans who would be born.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 day ago (9 children)

By all accounts what he did worked. The potential to end HIV is huge. The amount of human suffering that could be reduced by rolling out what he did is very real.

The technology is here. It's better to strictly manage it for the public good than to lock it away.

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago

Real humans who would be born and could potentially have children, passing whatever genetic edits they have (intended and off-target) into the gene pool.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (8 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Mengele vibes right there.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Well, the nazis did make a lot of scientific progress…

/s, just in case

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The nazis were ethical compared to what was happening at Unit 731...

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

doesn't get enough attention, true, but both are so far over the moral event horizon, anyone who tolerates either one living should be shot.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

We don't need to compare the two, they both committed atrocities horrific beyond comprehension.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I think he does it ironically tbh, his posts are all over the place, from making fun of Europe for regulating everything to then saying that gene editing should be regulated by international laws to then saying ethics are holding back humanity, then just saying he loves austin texas, then stating that he will not develop bio weapons lmao.

Stanford cup and CPC flag, he does have a sense of humour tbh.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago (3 children)

"Speed limits are holding me back from getting from a to B in as little time as possible" yeah, and they reduce the likelihood of injuring/killing a people in the process.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

yeah, but, consider: I really want to get to point B. like, so badly. and I'm pretty sure I'm a good driver.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago

Average CCP party member

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›