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Re: [RC] Cloning horse - Dabney Finch

Diane,
Wow--that is a terrific post--you should speak up more often!!
Thanks for sharing
--Dabney


----- Original Message ----- From: "Diane Trefethen" <tref@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <Ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 8:49 AM
Subject: Re: [RC] Cloning horse



Something I like to do when emotionally stirred to jump on any bandwagon, especially one proclaiming that the sky is falling, is to try to view the question from as truly a dispassionate position as possible.

Every era has its changes. Since the beginning of recorded history, humans have invoked the wrath of the Gods with their presumptuousness. For every profound new thought, for every stroke of genius, for every step away from the past, there have been foretellers of doom. Histories of the rebelliousness of youth written in ancient Latin speak as clearly to the issues of emerging into adulthood today as they did then. The Spanish Inquisition tortured and killed people who spoke of different ideas and the witches of Salem fared no better. That Earth was not the center of the universe was blasphemy, electricity was magic, hypnotism was Satanic demonism and in the 1950's, it was widely held that the discovery and implementations of our then current understanding of atomic theory would lead us directly into WW III and totally wipe out all life.

And yet... we are still here. Better than just still here, we are incredibly better off than was humanity 5000 years ago. While many bemoan the cruelties and avarice of segments of today's world, consider... all the real problems facing us... hunger, disease, early death, hatred, cruelty... are old, not new. The difference is that once virtually ALL of us were at the mercy of these tortures while now, through our presumptuousness, billions of us live in a world where we are comfortable enough to take time to appreciate life, explore the known and the unknown, think, dream, play.

Is the future safe and assured? Will Islamic Jihad triumph? Will the Internet ever be safe? Will cloning become a "normal" method of reproduction? We don't know. But if we step back and ask ourselves if, in the grand scheme of things, have we overcome frightening new concepts and put them to use for the betterment of our world, I think the answer is yes and that suggests that our current dilemmas, as threatening as they are, present us with yet more opportunies for a better world.


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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

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Replies
Re: [RC] Cloning horse, Lysane Cree
Re: [RC] Cloning horse, heidi
Re: [RC] Cloning horse, Diane Trefethen