What is the scariest word in the world?

Xiaoya~~~I am Haoran~~~can I answer it? The most dangerous thing in the world is not human cloning, genetically modified organisms, stem cells, artificial intelligence, or nuclear weapons. This story happened at a seminar. Someone was on stage talking about the "terribility" of genetically modified crops, but I really had no interest in debating with him. As someone who deals with science news all day long, there is no better way to describe the sensational claims about genetically modified crops than to use clichés. After the seminar, everyone ate together, and a dish was put on the table. Those are suckling pig legs. I always think that eating piglets is a very uneconomical thing to do. Look, a piglet only has four legs. In order to make such a dish, several piglets are used as raw materials. It would be great if a genetically modified pig could be produced so that it could have more legs. I know that there are genes that control the number of legs an animal has. Immersed in this fantasy, I blurted out at the dinner table: I think we should use GM piggy. But the words struck the person next to me like a fork. "Genetically modified ones? Can they still be eaten?" someone turned to me and asked. This sentence also brought me back from my thoughts: Although I have refuted anti-GMO clichés online or in newspapers, this was the first time I encountered them in my life. I picked up a piece of suckling pig leg with chopsticks, turned around and asked him: Why do you think genetic modification is scary? Every era has its share of scary things: thousands of years ago it was solar and lunar eclipses; hundreds of years ago it was vampires and werewolves, and later it was steam engines and cameras. But now these "scary" things have changed - solar and lunar eclipses are festivals for astronomy enthusiasts; vampires and werewolves only appear in movies and TV for people's entertainment; people no longer regard steam engines as As an ominous thing, in fact people rarely see this kind of backward machinery. As for cameras, in an era when you can buy a point-and-shoot camera for a few dozen yuan, the saying "taking photos will capture your mind" can only be a very cold joke. But the terrible legend itself will not die. If we were to create a ranking list to select the most terrifying legends of this era, then I can guarantee that cloning and genetic modification would be at the top of the list. If you like, robotics and artificial intelligence could also be included. Clearly, some of the claims about GMOs are as absurd from a scientific perspective as werewolf legends. But these claims are still and are becoming popular. If you search for "GMO" on the Internet, you will easily find statements such as "reject GMOs", "such and such products do not contain GMOs", and "choose health, not GMOs". Obviously, the "genetically modified" here has become a real substance, just like dioxin or DDT. Want some DDT? Of course not! What about GMOs? Golden Rice: Genetically modified rice rich in carotene. The answer may be very simple and clear: in fact, genetically modified rice does not belong to the category of DDT. Strictly speaking, it is not even a noun. "Genetically modified" (literally in English, meaning "gene-modified") organisms are organisms that have been biologically modified, usually by introducing genes into the genome of an organism that it did not originally have. For example, a well-known genetically modified crop—often called “golden rice”—incorporates genes that promote carotene production into the rice genome. Since carotene is the "raw material" for the body's synthesis of vitamin A, and in many developing countries, children often die due to lack of vitamin A, the effect of this genetically modified rice is like adding iodized salt to iodine-deficient areas. In other words, eating this "GMO" is actually eating extra carotene. Are you panicking about carotene? Probably not. But what if “GMO” is added in front of its name? Of course, not all GMOs are beneficial, but the word "GMO" is certainly not another way of saying "toxic." If there is anything truly dangerous about GMOs, it is the lack of understanding of GMO technology. Ignorance is the most dangerous thing. There is no credible evidence that clones have been born. Another famous example is cloning. When Dolly, the world's first cloned sheep, was born in 1996, the word "clone" suddenly became a common word, associated with various terrifying legends: cloning Hitler, cloning terrorists, and even... The horror of cloning ordinary people.

The popular image is of dozens of identical babies huddled together - obviously not clones, but masterpieces of the image-processing software Photoshop. But if you look closely at cloning technology, these terrible legends are actually not terrible: cloning Hitler is almost impossible because no one has gone out of his way to properly preserve his DNA. Even if his DNA is intact, the memory cannot be inherited, so even if Hitler were cloned, he would not be able to cause trouble. As for whether cloning ordinary people will cause any panic, this is unlikely because cloned individuals still need time to grow and develop. Of course, objections from religion are another matter, but religion as a belief cannot interfere with science. Simply put, although today's cloning technology is imperfect, it is not a world-destroying technology. If you understand what cloning is all about, it's as hard to believe the scary claims about cloning as it is to believe that a camera will steal your soul. (Of course, one time when I was discussing the issue of human cloning with someone, after I excluded the religious factor and explained the meaning of cloning, the other party still denied cloning on the grounds of "unnatural". I gave up further arguments. , I want to ask: "Then why don't you also reject the 'unnatural' penicillin?") Titles are a very unique part of newspapers and magazines. For example, a pun title can add color to the article. But titles can also turn into boring gimmicks. For example, a news article published by a newspaper last month (November) "U.S. scientists secretly created human-animal hybrid animals" described that some American scientists "secretly" created many "human-animal Hermeras" (in Greek mythology) monster), which makes people feel like a new generation of werewolves or vampires were born in the laboratory. "What is the essential difference between today's American scientists and the medical madmen who concocted half-human, half-animal monsters in the Welsh science fiction novel "The Island of Dr. Morru"?" the news asked at the end. Of course there is a difference, but the difference is that the author himself made a mess about an otherwise serious topic. In fact, the experiments mentioned in this news are all normal experiments on stem cell research. For example, transplanting human brain cells into the brains of experimental mice can study neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease; transplanting hematopoietic stem cells Transplanting into pigs can test the safety of transplanting pig hearts into humans. Considering pigs as donors for human organ transplants is not a new idea, and pigs can be modified to make their organs more suitable for humans. Even an ordinary fact, if described in a different way, can have a horrifying effect. Consider this headline: “Scientists create pig with 90% identical genome to humans.” Perhaps some people immediately think of a "pig-man" (or "human-pig," whatever you want) hybrid. It sounds scary, but the fact is that the pig genome is about 90% similar to the human genome. There are also some species that are closer to humans than pigs, and using them as titles may have a better eye-catching effect. The topic of transplanting human stem cells into animals is less scary if you know that humans and other animals are not so black and white. Experimental mice with human brain cells are certainly not monsters because they have too few neurons. Otherwise, why would we build civilization instead of Homo erectus with even less brain capacity? A comment on the news that appeared in another newspaper said: "This is definitely a chilling thing... When the development of science exceeds the boundaries of human ethics and becomes unstoppable, how will we face it? Those orcs in the Welsh science fiction novel "The Island of Dr. Moreau" are cruel in nature, but they were transformed by innocent people? ...What else can mankind wait for except for the arrival of Bellerophon, the legendary hero who killed Hermera? " 's comment is as off-topic as the news item it's commenting on. If there is anything else to wait for except for the arrival of Bellerophon, I hope that simple knowledge of biology (high school seems to be enough) can come to most people. The main purpose of my writing this article is not to explain genetic modification or human cloning, nor to elaborate on the progress of stem cell research. There is something more dangerous than them all, and it is called ignorance. Of course I respect public participation in discussing scientific issues - this in itself is a progress of the times.

But any discussion should be based on a clear understanding of the facts and nature of the problem: if you don't understand something, how can you come to the right conclusion about it? Cloning, transgenics, and stem cells are all topics that can be discussed, and are very interesting topics, but ignorance, and the pride that some take in ignorance, is destroying the basis for discussion. Let me go back to the incident at the beginning of this article. When I explained to others what GMOs meant, at least a few people softened their hostility to GMOs, and one even said to me, "I don't think GMOs are that scary either." This is an interesting example. I can't convince everyone at once, but it shows how important facts are to the discussion.