The Ramifications Of Species Verification

[bipedalist]

....hey maybe the authorities don't really care at all...

Or, maybe they REALLY care and just maybe the authorities struck first and possess what we all naively dream about that hasn't been investigated?

[Guest]

You are correct PT, hence the reason I said this is where we need to focus our efforts, to prevent genetic manipulation of any creature for the purpose of creating an unnatural/altered, viable, and mature entity. Genetic engineering and research is progressing in leaps and bounds, and that is a great and wonderful thing for medical research, but we need to make sure legislation and enforcement stays ahead of the potential abuses of the technology. Unfortunately, I don't see that realistically happening once nations realize it is cheaper to grow super soldiers, once we are capable of doing such a thing, than it is to invest in the development of more high tech machine weaponry. That will happen with or without a bigfoot, but may happen faster if we have a sasquatch genome for a model.

Unless we can manage to speed up growth and maturation in an ape/human we will never be able to grow supersoldiers faster or cheaper than we can mass-produce weapons like guns or microbes. The genetic enginerring ideas that go around in various message boards are completely out of line with reality. To change the rate of development of a human or ape will change the way the body is built entirely and would probably not be feasible without restructuring the entire genome of the creature. Apes and humans all reach puberty around ten to thirteen years of age and none of them are at their full mature size for many more years after that. There is no easy out to mass produce us either. Bigfoot DNA could be useful in understanding the physical limitations of human and ape DNA but would not likely be used to "improve" humans in any way without huge amounts of testing. This would be very expensive considering the massive upkeep costs of maintaining a population of test subjects.

The only genetic engineering we need to worry about would be for bacterial or viral weapons which are far cheaper and can be performed by a single person in an inexpensive laboratory with broader application. A virus can be spread easily. How do you deploy a pack of apemen and in which situation would they be preferable to guns or bombs?

Not to say bigfoot won't be threatened by discovery/confirmation. I think the poachers are a bigger threat even here in the USA and protection is likely to be slow in coming due to lack of information regarding population size and ecological sensitivity. Research is necessary for their protection in the long run and research isn't going to be granted the funds without confirmation of their existence.

[Guest Jodie]

I can't answer your questions PT because we aren't there yet as far being able to cultivate artificial creatures. Many things that were thought to be impossible have become possible in a matter of decades. In this case, it's just a matter of time. These creatures would be considered expendable so having a long life span or minor defects that did not impair performance for the short haul would not be a high priority. They would not be nurtured, but trained explicitly for the purpose they were being used for, it's a frightening thought really. The only way to maintain control over a population like this is to genetically design a built in addiction of some kind so that they would be dependent on the creator. A group of guerilla soldiers with human intelligence and ape strength would be daunting. They could go on foot where humans could not go and very easily erode the high tech assets of the opposing side with small strikes. It was the way the American Revolution was won.