What was the big deal about mapping the human genome?

You shouldn’t care. It is above your head. It would take too long to explain it to you. Just sit back and enjoy the benefits that the knowledge brings to the species.

You don’t know how or why your T.V. works, but you enjoy its benefits.

There are those smarter than you that will tell you what you need to know.

Suppose you have a very valuable vintage sports car. One day, something goes wrong. You take it to the mechanics, and he never seen this kind of car before, and does not understand what could be wrong. Annoying, wouldn’t it be?

So, when you buy the sports car, you also buy the book that explains how it works, the blueprints, the maintenance manual, the description of the parts, and so on. You are not a mechanic, but you know a mechanics who will be able to make sense of those and fix your car, so you make sure your friend the mechanics has access to that information before anything breaks.

Now replace “car” by “human body”, “blueprint” by “genome mapping” and “mechanics” by “medical doctor”. Should you care if you get sick, even if you are not a scientist? My feeling is that you should, that means you should not oppose the financing of research in that area. It is your butt, in the end, that may benefit from it all.

Damn, that is the saddest, most pathetic question I’ve read all week.

As others have said, the medical applications alone are mind-boggling, and may save your life someday.

But beyond that, why is it acceptable that “average people” are “science illiterate”? That’s *horrible*! Why should average people care about art, or music, or literature, or anything other subject in which they are “illliterate”. The answer is they should care in order not to be illiterate!

Science is a beautiful human endeavor as fantastic as painting or writing great works of music. There was once a day when people really cared about (e.g.) man walking on the moon … today people are so indifferent they honestly speculate that it was all a huge hoax perpetrated by scientists and engineers. Or evolution is a hoax. Or global warming.

But people are content to be “science illiterate”, and find no fascination whatsoever with incredible achievement that we’ve finally mapped out our own entire genetic blueprint and have only to start filling in the details.

God what a dull world “average people” must live in!

If you enjoy life, you better get involved. This could either create new life styles, or destroy all life. If Genetic Engineering gets into the wrong hands, they will use it to possibly create humans for war. Humans that can grow back limbs could be nice for amputees, but using it in warfare, could be omnipotent. Imagine the strongest, fastest, best hearing, best eyesight, animals in the planet. Genetic Engineers take the genes that gives those animals that power and put it in humans. but many good things can come of it too.