Genetic Engineering brings alot to the table. Scientist are for the most part capable of stringing together different gene sequences and creating strange animals. However, were not to the level where we can build ANYTHING just yet.

So what organism would you build (given you had the chance) and what purpose would it serve?


My personal wish would be to create a computer animal. You could hook any number up to a computer, feed them trash while they store your files and process your information. They would excrete materials very rarely, but through a small tube. Electricity would be unecessary. They'd never get sick and would not be able to ask for anything. Though devoid of feeling, they're capable of processing random thoughts...and there more....

Your Animal?

you should se the movie eXitenZ!

I would try to make smart humans. There are so few around

I would genetically engineer humans to get rid of the Religion center in the brain...it has served its purpose...now we don't need it anymore.

http://members.truepath.com/sapphoo/horse.gif

I would give the "Nitrogen trapping out of air" gene of bleu-green algae to normal plants so that we triple our foodstock.

Even better give some photosynthesis and nitro capabillity to humans so that we can live from thin air and water alone....

good idea. And we would look nice and green. :)

I'd make some creatures that could survive in the vacuum of space, so they could take our ships and stuff up and save us money on fuel costs. It would really accelerate the process of exploration.

see mine over here (http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=12095)

Make a superpowerful, reproducing biological computer with built in monitor/speaker. Powers by feeding on veggies.

Or better yet, modify a parasitic creature who'll connect to my brain and increase mindpower/memory. Sort of like a biological RAM upgrade.

And preferably a much more efficient circulation system than the one we have now.

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There is no god, afterlife or divine love. There is only Entropy, the mother from which we were all born. She tugs our souls with the beautiful, maternal love of chaos. Why do you keep Her waiting?

This thread bears an odd resemblence to the thread I started a while back. ;)

I would create a cat sized creature designed for cleaning the floor. It would have a trunk like mouth of equal length to its tail. It would walk on 6 stubby legs dituated directly below its body. It is covered by a thick coat of short blue fur.
It would clean the floor by sucking stains out of carpets, sonsuming fallen organics, and eat small pests. It would be helpless in the wild and would only survive in ones home.

You're all crazy. What we clearly need are miniature polar bears.

Those would be cute. Canary sized emporer penguins too? ;)
Rat sized velocoraptors?

I like the penguin idea. We could have a whole arctic team. Make them all real small and you could have a fish tank with everything from killer whales to walruses to the original polar bears. Though they should have a polar bear size that can fill your lap.

The raptors - or should I say rators - on the other hand would be a serious nuisance. The rats in NYC are nasty enough the last thing we need are ravenous little beasties that hunt in packs.

Though a cat and mouse made to be the same size and put in a ring would be interesting. Who would win then?

Tiny little velocoraptors would hunt rats and roaches and would follow prep populations. If You have mini-raptors you would first have an infestation of something else first.

After seeing a pet baboon spider little would suprize me.

In 3001 there was a brief scene where Clarke introduces Raptors as the low-wage laborers of the future, it turns out that although they can be vicious around humans they can be relatively docile. I think that if I knew absolutely beyond a doubt that there was no way it would hurt me or anything else I would get a raptor. I would build it a really nice tropical zoo thingy downstairs and let it do whatever it wanted, I'd even give it a cow once in awhile:) Ooh, it would also be cool if I could ride on its BACK...yeah that would be so awesome, 'cause they can run really fast and jump dozens of feet in the air, even with a teenager gurgling with joy on its back!! Yeah!!

Actually if we had the ability to design the physical appearance of an animal to anything we want, we should be almost capable of manipulating their mental capacity.

In that light I would want to make and train a penguin that could sing all of Frank Sinatra's greatest hits and had similar mannerisms. Maybe a Michael Jackson one too (designed after the older more normal version apart from being a penguin - though maybe I'd make him a koala). And the miniature polar bear would sing like bjork.

And some kind of monkeyish thing that was an amazing break dancer. That would be cool.

And you could have your nice docile raptors. You could even make them rapping raptors ... or maybe not.

What about giant cockroaches to guard your home?
I would grow wings on myself.
Or a flying horse, a unicorn. :D

If giant cockroaches were gaurding my home, that might make it a home I was afraid to return to. Uggh cockroaches. Certainly would deter me from considering invading someone else's home though.

Self modifications are a whole other story ... I've always wanted to be a shape shifter. Not for pretending to be other people, but to be a dolphin, cheetah, hawk, maybe a squirrel - chasing eachother around trees and jumping from branch to branch always looked fun. You could try it all ...

I guess shape changing is a lot harder to do than simple one time modificaitons though. Wings would be a good one except it might make chairs and sleeping a little odd.

Originally posted by Pollux V
In 3001 there was a brief scene where Clarke introduces Raptors as the low-wage laborers of the future, it turns out that although they can be vicious around humans they can be relatively docile. I think that if I knew absolutely beyond a doubt that there was no way it would hurt me or anything else I would get a raptor. I would build it a really nice tropical zoo thingy downstairs and let it do whatever it wanted, I'd even give it a cow once in awhile:) Ooh, it would also be cool if I could ride on its BACK...yeah that would be so awesome, 'cause they can run really fast and jump dozens of feet in the air, even with a teenager gurgling with joy on its back!! Yeah!!

Try and subjugate full sized raptors any you are begging to go extinct. Nothing worse than a velocoraptor in a nuke carrying spacefighter.

Even better give some photosynthesis and nitro capabillity to humans so that we can live from thin air and water alone....

Unfortunately, that wouldn't totally work. We're mobile creatures, and as a result, we need a HUGE variety of nutrients from a variety of sources. Otherwise we wouldn't be mobile anymore. PLUS, we'd produce so much oxygen that the world would suffocate lol.


I like the miniature polar bear idea, even though it wouldn't work. It'd be nice to have a small but vicious creature roaming around my house. Although, my grandmothers former cat (rest it's soul) filled those shoes better than any carnivore every could. I lost a good pint of blood to him :((

Not that I'm trying to replace cats, but you certainly could make miniature polar bears.

You would clearly have to rescale the physiology to be compatible with the decreased size. I wouldn't attempt to make them smaller than any known mammal, but you could even figure out the details from mice, moles, etc.

There's a great book "How animals work" (or something very close), but Knut Schmidt-Nielson where he analyzes scaling in animals. Apparently searching online there's also a book "Scaling, Why is Animal Size So Important?" by him, but I couldn't find the exact title for the book I'd read. We read excerpts from it in my physiological engineering class in undergrad. Very interesting stuff.

Granted after the modifications they would not have exactly the same character as an equivalently small polar bear, but I'm not that picky about that sort of thing. Especially since I thought the discussion was started in a more creative and less scientific spirit.

Another idea for a creature; this time a plant.

You have something like a pineapple plant that sends up a sungle fruiting body. It is covered my little fleshy green scales and gives off a delicious odor. To get to the edible core an animal must rip off the scales. (perhaps these scales are sticky at the base and stick to the animal to be dispersed )

Anyway, each scale will send out roots and grow into a new plant.

Everal new variaties of birds. One has four legs and two wings and is still bipedal. The second has no wings and four legs. Both are still obviously birds.

The third, a variety of penguin, gives live birth and thus never needs to come to shore.

Please. Give more ideas. Future geneticists may name their animals after you ;). How does the clockwoodian guinie fowl sound?

I don't see why you couldn't make minature polar bears. If dogs can range in size the way they do, why not other animals. I am thinking you could size a polar bear down to the size of a medium-sized dog. It might still be a pretty dangerous animal, though. Perhaps it could be very useful to the coast guard if trained for water rescues.

My idea is the Stoll Cat. A sort of elongated cat without a backbone or legs. A fashion accessory for the very wealthy. Why wear dead fur when you can wear live fur that massages your neck with its purring while keeping you warm and company at the same time!

I would make a plant and of course as you probaly guessed it would be Weed. It would be a kind that doesnt mess with your lungs or give you cancer. It would also make see some tripy stuff and it would be a cross between Northern Lights and Orange Crush for all you fellow stoners out there.

mm-hmm.

I'm sure a cross exists, Weedman. And it wouldnt be hard to make. We're talking about building organisms bit by bit here. Besides, you can't make something you SMOKE and INHALE into your lungs less carcinogenic. ANYTHING burnt going into your lungs isn't going to be good..:rolleyes:

Tweak some fruit to be heavily hallucinagenic but otherwise safe and tasty. Then you guys would have what you want.

I think I would like to grow me a car.