Is X-Men Possible With Genetic Engineering ?

After seeing the X-men movies I have decided to ask today would it be possible to create real "X-men"? With current techniques we are able to remove and implant genetic material into living things. For example we insert certain genes into bacteria so it can make products such as factor 8, for people with hemophelia, and genes into cows that will allow them and their offspring to create upto 20% more milk. So what i'm asking is what is the next step and what will its ethical implications be. Will there ever be genetic manipulation of the human DNA sequence to better the human species? If there ever is than will these changes allow people ablities such as that of the X-men or will it never go that far?

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

well the human genome is a lot more complicated than that of a sheep or a tomato...

sure, we could probably mix and match DNA to see what comes out (if Bush/everybody isn't opposed) but that wouldn't yield very precise results. Unfortunately, that's pretty much what we do with our "genetic engineering" of plants.

To pinpoint the exact codons and sequences of certain phenotypes (brown hair, big feet, etc.) we would need to have a working template of the human genome... which we currently don't have. Yes, we have an overview of the basic construction, but how does that apply when you're trying to figure out what sequences are what phenotypes?

So, no. We're not even close to that kind of genetic engineering. We could theoretically "guess and check" but that would be considered unethical to most and very time-consuming.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

According to what you are suggesting, you have got the wrong movie. Xmen was about naturally occuring mutation not genetic manipulation. The proper movie example would be more like "Soldier", which made the unavoidable ethical question in such manipulation more obvious. "Soldier" also puts much more reasonable limits on what can be expected as a result of genetic engineering.

Going back to X-men and naturally occuring genetic change. I think we are indeed in the middle of a radical leap forward in human evolution, but in an entirely different direction than that indicated by the movie. The real X-men of today are the handicapped, who with the aid of technology and the support of the community now survive and are finding productive roles in todays society. These are the radically new types of human beings which represent the next leap forward in human evolution.

This is actually a natural part of the process of evolution, for such a leap forward has occured before in the development of multicelular organisms. As groups of cells began working together and started protecting the weaker members of the community, this allowed a greater variety of cells to survive in the community, which stimulated the development of special cells like nerve cells and muscle cells which eventually allowed the multicelular organisms to develop capabilities that far outstripped those of single celled organisms.

 

 

 

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

Yep.. you got it all laid out mitchellmckain. Nothing further to say on this except that I don't think any amount of genetic engineering can mutate us to such a degree that we can magically transforms parts of ourselves into steel blades or produce fire out of thin air.. Such modifications can at best help us get rid of certain congenital diseases for good.. or say make us cancer-proof.. which is what is really needed rather than all the fancy weaponry growing out of our bodies

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

You know, I've read and seen just enough Sci-fi to know that messing with DNA at random may not be such a good idea. Just like the government's reports about placing Army troops in trenches 5 miles from a nuclear blast in the 1950's was a good idea....

I'm not totally against the field. I now run our family farms and a lot of the plants the farmer uses any more are gentically engineered to be round-up ready (soy beans and corn). We're even planting a hybrid (non GE) rice that is yielding nearly 195 bushels per arce.

However, it's when they develop a Gm rice that is designed to produce a kind of anti-biotic for the drug industry and not meant for human consumtion, and they want to plant it in the wild...then I start to have issues. (Which they are doing here in Missouri this year after Texas, Calidfornia, Arkansas, and Louisana turned them down)

Sorry, but once that stuff is in the wild, there is no controlling it. Birds and wind can carry those seeds anywhere.

Back to the topic of the X-men...My friends working on the PhD's in genetics say...maybe, but not anytime in our lifetimes. However, the gentics factor of the X-men is not the point of the story. Hats off to Stan Lee and the folks that produced these last 3 movies. They captured the heart of the comic book on screen. and that is discrimination/what it feels like to be different.

Now I will say that X-3 was more a rental than a see it on the big screen movie (I saw it on the big screen) as I found it to be 2 minutes of minutes of not so subtle "morality lessons" followed by 20 minutes of action. I left the theater feeling pretty um..wow...kinda like after seeing Serenity last fall because of what happens to so many characters. I think I had read that this was supposed to be the "last one"...but I hate it when hollywood says that and then leaves it open ended so that: "Well if it still makes money". There are just some movies where they start making way too many...

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

Well of course. It is science fiction after all. But think about the science fiction films when motion pictures first began. If we watch them now they seem just silly, because what they showed was more about the imaginations of the special effects people than the real future. But on the other hand the future that it was attempting to predict really has those movies largely blown out of the water. Truth is far far more fantastic than fiction. As a result, I say, yes, the X-men is hollywood special effects and in the future it will just seem silly, but on the other hand we really cannot even imagine.....

If we take clues from the last time that evolution entered this stage on this planet (in the transition to multicelular organisms), we see that the "technology" (communication, material transport, cooperative efforts, material production) played an enormous part in the development of specialized cells. Try to imagine what will happen when you take the idea of technology compensating the handicapped, a step further to augmentation. As the handicap flourish in productive roles in the community individual survival driven evolution will reverse itself and the handicapped will rapidly increase in numbers. We will have to learn to accept greater diversity in the human community. Anne McCaffrey started exploring the possibilities a little in "The Ship who Sang" and its sequels. Other authors have looked a little bit at technological augmentation (like C.S. Friedman's "This Alien Shore"). I think it is likely that these do not even come close to the real future where biological limitations become utterly irrelevant because we routinely design our own bodies (and brains) as an integration of biology and technology. They may not be much like the X-men, but then the human beings of the future may laugh at the X-men as just plain silly because it will be clear the people of this time actually had no idea what would really be possible in the future.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

I think there are a few characters in the X-Men movie/comic franchise that can be a reality in the future. One of them is Wolverine. Retractable claws aka bone... hmm... seems possible to me. Wolverine has super strong bones thanx to adamantium. I have read somewhere that Japanese researchers have a prototype thingy that helps people carry extra weight. It is an external device, but in the future, who knows? Super healing power....well, there are currently already oxygen chambers, or something like that, to increase the healing process. An advancement in technology coupled with the correct genes would come close to what Wolverine has in the movie/comic. Btw, lots of people died in the experiment that created Wolverine. Only Wolverine's genes made him suited to the technology used to alter his body.

Anyway, what is the special ability of Beast? You know, the blue creature that is smart? If it is just strength and agility, well, I think it is achievable in the future. Hehe... maybe we can even do it better than the comic. Girls, how about a handsome, strong, agile and smart man?

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

On the movie part.. the movie is terrible.. i watched it for 20 minutes and got gored on the 5th minute. well it got to be the last one if the next movie will be this crappy. angel on of the founding members make a debut and my friends told me that proffesor - X died.

Not a typical version of the comic book X-men.

--

I personally dont believe that we can attain such phenominal powers like the ones in Xmen. Each mutation have a consequence. In my country we have use a genetically enhanced snails to combat alot of problems with some pest and to aid in cleaning in the rice fields.

Thing works well for the first 2 years and went hell for the 3rd year onwards.. This genetically enhanced snails reproduce at quadruple the speed of the non GE versions. Resistant to alot of illness and can easily develop resistance for chemicals. On the 3rd year, these same snails eats the rice plant stalks which is the one it suppose to help.

--

We as now have mutants in reality, I have seen people who have a sligth mutation in their genes and they most of the time end up handicapped. That is only for sligth mutations either produce by the environment or natural started from birth.

--
GE/Mutated humans I believe will take more time and years to develop Xmen like characteristics. As was mentioned at the past post above mine, we cannot know the result of mutations and GE if we dont have a human template of the gene structures. A wrong choice of combinations can kill the subject or made him handicapped for life.

--
The beast part I believe is possible and he dont get the brains due to mutations instead his mutations is his ability to control all appendages precisely enabling him to use his feet like hands.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

Interesting topic On a daily level, I actually do play around with genes. If Mendel were alive today he would just about have a stroke when he realizes how far we've come from staring at peas and peapods. Yes, it is relatively easy to introduce any gene, from any of several species, into a completely different organism. This would include humans. Of course technology has only gone so far as to move genes around, rather than improve them. Hence, we are not yet at the point where one can generate completely new genes, which encode for a completely new protein that has NEVER existed before. Certainly we can mutate genes, but only incrementally and usually to 'mutate' it back to normal. So, it is more likely that things from Star Trek will come to fruition than things from X-men.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)

well, it could be very interesting to try to grow the wings of an eagle on your back, or color change like a cameleon, or become invisible like an octopus, or be really fast like a cheeta, or listen really well like a cat, the possiblitys are endless, i know theyre trying to do something with salamanders and sea stars, to grow back lost limbs of people.

Comment/Reply (w/o sign-up)