Human Nature

Human race is at the point that dramatically could change the life of himself and all other creatures around, But the greed inside him doesn't let him do it in the right way. People in power would use it to create restless slaves who could work 24/7 and fearless soldiers who could fight 24/7. Technology is great but we are not mature enough to use it in the right way. Look at the internet and social media and the way how people waste this technology on some pointless activities. Still long way to go.

"...weather we like it or not - we are living in a time of transition. After two billion years this is, in a sense, the end of the beginning." Robert Sinsheimer, Biologist, CalTech 26th June 1966

From a basic understanding the DNA structure and the mapping of its fingerprints - to the beginning of understanding what various parts do - has been an ongoing journey. A journey that, until this decade, fell short of our ability to "precisely manipulate"

Now the first DNA tools are in the toolbox. We are gaining the ability to "cut and paste" DNA. Not only in our surroundings - but in are very own beings, not only in all life forms but in all offspring.

This capability has "blasted" into the world with such velocity - question is; are we prepared for it's effects - the bad as well as good. The consequences of editing DNA raise philosophical questions of epic proportions.

To a large extent Human Nature attempts to explain; the principles of CRISPR, it's possible implementations and the ethical considerations - in parallel. This approach may be useful for keeping the audience hooked but, arguably, the end result would have benefited from a "chapter approach". It also leaves the impression that the topics aren't done to perfection.

This is not necessarily a good documentary - in the sense well made. The story itself is, however, so mind blowing and important that it gets a bonus with regards to rating - purely on the importance of the information conveyed.

It is a must see - more on the merit of what it is saying, than how it is saying it. We have unleashed enormous powers - knowledge and debate are required to temper them. The sooner more of us grasp the concept of CRISPR and Cas9 - the sooner can we influence; how and in which direction we want it to go.

The alarm bell just went off, it's a fire alarm - hitting the snooze button won't work.

Good points all around this issue of whether we could or should, but in all reality it's coming either way and there is nothing we can do about it. Humankinds hubris is unparalleled as a species on this planet and it has led us to both achieving some our most wildly fantastic dreams and depth defying hellish nightmares. Technology will change us forever. We are seeing that played out right before our eyes in 2020. The question is - what defines perfection when we finally reach the moment of our singularity? Will we even slow down enough to even ponder that question? Nature is a magical formula that over the course of billions of years has gotten us this far. The balance in it is for a reason, and if we tend to disagree with that and opt to change it the unintended consequences may take us in directions that dissolves the true human experience. That being said the true wisdom from this documentary came from the little boy with sickle cell. He made it clear he would not have wanted to be shorted on his true human experience as the roll of natures dice made him who he is. I was blown away by his self awareness and his bravery in light of his condition. After a few hundred years will we look back at this and marvel at what it once meant to live and be apart of the true human experience locked in with the beautiful magical power of billions of years of nature? Maybe. Maybe not. I guess if once you could fly and then you couldn't and so much time had passed that you completely lost the feeling of what it felt like to fly. Would it even matter? Difficult questions.

Well made movie which features some of the pioneers of the field, unlike some random guy from Youtube who made a video after reading some blog off the internet. CRISPR is the next internet & what we know about it & its uses is just the tip of the iceberg. The movie goes on tell the positives & negatives of gene editing but a viewer can't visualise the best & worst ways in which this can be used. I feel that it could have been a bit more dramatic and with a little more information it would have been the go to documentary for CRISPR related knowledge.

The science behind gene editing and its uses, good or bad, explored in some detail. Left me thinking of the impact when CRISPR meets AI and the potential chaos of their illegitimate children. The opportunity for the human species to embark on irreversible journeys has never been greater. Chuck in a bit of climate change and some despotic governance and you really do have the foundations for what was once the fantasy of science fiction.