If you could combine your genes with any animal in
the world, which one would you choose?
Would you want the power of a wolf, the agility
of a cat, or the wings of a bird?
Well, you better make up your mind quickly because this
technology is right around the corner.
This is what if, and here's what would happen if,
we created human animal hybrids.
Borrowing traits from our neighbors in the animal Kingdom might
seem like a good way to advance our species, but
it could also create a lot of problems.
For starters, we've seen how some humans treat people who
are different, so you can imagine how they would react
to the first human animal hybrids.
On top of that, it would only be a matter
of time before armed forces started to weaponize the hybrids,
using them as a new kind of technology.
But would it all be worth it if this breakthrough
could save thousands of lives in the scientific community?
Human animal hybrids are referred to as chimeras, organisms that
contain genetic material from two or more sources.
For years, humans have experimented with placing human cells into
different animals such as rats, mice, and pigs, each with
varying degrees of success.
These kinds of experiments used to be done without any
government support or funding, but that all changed due to
a biologist named Hiramitsu Nakaochi.
In 2019, he was approved by the Japanese government to
grow human cells in animal embryos.
The embryos can later be transported into surrogate animals and
brought to term.
The intended goal is to develop a new way to
approach organ transplantation for humans to take out the need
to rely on humans in the 1st place.
The idea is that animals could safely act as hosts
for human organs due to the human cells in the
embryos.
This concept is called xenotransplantation.
Right now the plan is to make an animal embryo
missing the gene required to make a specific organ.
Human stem cells would be injected into the animal embryo
to form a human compatible replacement organ that could then
be harvested and transplanted.
This would provide a massive relief for people in need
of organ transplants.
To put it in perspective, in the United States there
are 100,000 people on the organ transplant wait list.
Every year, 8000 of them die due to no donor
being available.
Despite the positive prospects of these experiments, some scientists and
governments remain hesitant.
One of their main concerns is avoiding any potential for
human cells to contribute to the animal embryo's brain.
They want to avoid creating an ethical dilemma.
They don't want animals to have human consciousness or intellectualize
any pain or suffering.
And that's not the only ethical dilemma that comes along
with all of this.
If the technology progressed to the point of humans inheriting
animal traits, we'd be reaching uncharted territory as a species.
We could see industries struggling to fulfill the requirements of
a population with animal DNA, especially one that might have
people living well past the age of 100.
Food suppliers, pharmaceuticals and medical treatments, doctors, and the insurance
industry would all see significant changes.
Could we start taking ourselves to the vet?
Then there'd be the risk of countries militarizing this idea.
Imagine soldiers with wings flying around with the ability to
run 100 kilometers an hour when they hit the ground.
So maybe we're better off not going too far down
this route.
Maybe we could learn to grow an endless supply of
organs in a lab instead of in animals, and we
could perform full body transplants.
But that's a story for another What if?