Gazing toward the Post-Natural World

New Crispr technology makes genetic manipulation a whole lot easier and a whole lot cheaper. The implications for good are huge, ditto the implications for evil (or just error). History teaches us humans never make tools without, sooner or later, somewhere, using them. How do we set up ethical bounds on scientists (and governments, and businesses) the world over before ecological disaster or human tragedy ensues?

Darned if I know. But it seems pretty

Easy DNA Editing Will Remake the World. Buckle Up. | WIRED
We now have the power to easily alter DNA. It could eliminate disease. It could get really out of hand.

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***Dave Does the Mastodon

5 hours ago

The City Council of #Tulsa, OK, has decided to swap out pre-meeting invocation #prayer for pre-meeting moments of silence, after an invocation prayer by a #pagan made many of them really, really uncomfortable, which got them wondering what non-Christians felt like when #Christian prayers were forced on them.

So, yay, Tulsa. At least for the moment.

https://www.wonkette.com/p/godless-libs-of-tulsa-ok-city-council

4 hours ago

Seems to me that being condemned as "nasty" and "Radical Left hard line Trump hater" by #Trump himself is ... well, a pretty good endorsement of the target's virtue. cf. Matt. 5:11-12

Bravo to fellow Episcopalian Bp. #Budde for speaking truth to power.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/22/trump-bishop-mariann-edgar-budde

2 days ago

There are all sorts of reasons to think that a lot of #Trump's first-day executive orders are illegal and will be struck down by the courts.

Unfortunately, that requires (a) the courts to actually do so, all the way up to (presumably) #SCOTUS, and (b) him and/or his appointed lackeys to pay any attention to what the courts, vs the #DearLeader, say.

https://reason.com/volokh/2025/01/20/trumps-illegal-first-day-executive-actions/

2 days ago

I left out, of course, #pettiness, #racism, and #nationalism

2 days ago

#Trump doesn't miss a second for #rudeness, #revanchism, and #PerformativeImperialism.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-rename-gulf-of-mexico-denali/

3 days ago

#Donald, #Melania, and #crypto... a match made in Zany Town.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-meme-coin-immediately-crashes-after-melanias-cryptocurrency-launch/

6 days ago

German industrialists and captains of industry didn't like, let alone trust, Hitler. But they worked with him because he was the guy in charge, they figured they could control him, and it gave them an advantage over their peers who didn't.

They eventually learned who was managing whom. But by then it was too late.

https://www.semafor.com/article/01/15/2025/trump-musk-dined-with-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-at-mar-a-lago

2 weeks ago

Racist MAGA idiots ranting

Four *decades* ago, I was working with my company's HR to track race among job applicants. Because you know great way to show you are being racist in your hiring efforts? By documenting a racially diverse applicant and hiring pool.

Remarkably, you can even do that even while accomplishing your mission statement, just like you can provide insurance, or remove snow from walkways.

Suggesting LAFD's #DEI program has killed people is (typically) disgusting.

2 weeks ago

The GOP won't cut Medicare and Social Security...

... but other programs are on the chopping block.
... but qualifications will be made stricter.
... but they won't be increased, either.
... until #Donald decides they should.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/johnson-cuts-social-security-medicare-fund-trumps-agenda/story?id=117420630

2 weeks ago

I saw someone make a reference to this, and #Greenland, and, especially, the whole #GulfOfMexico / #GulfOfAmerica thing, calling it "Performative Imperialism": #Trump gets most of what he wants (donations, accolades) through sheer bullying bluster or acts that cost him nothing.

2 weeks ago

#Trump 's spitballing about #Canada is just that: random bloviating that (a) irritates his opponents, (b) excites his knee-jerk supporters, (c) costs him nothing, (d) lets him bully people, and (e) holds the prospect of, should some infernal twist of fate cause it to happen, making him famous for something other than his criminal record.

There's also probably some hidden way it makes him money, too. Like selling signed USA+Canada maps to the yokels for US$ 250 a pop.

3 weeks ago

Californians who were trying to follow up on an Amber Alert issued by the CHP were blocked when it turned out the CHP alert linked to the agency's #Xitter account for full details, and to see the alert people would need to sign into Xitter.

Completely predictable, if infuriating. Public agencies depending on #ElonMusk 's Xitter platform are doing the public a disservice.

https://www.wired.com/story/amber-alert-paywall-california/

3 weeks ago

TIL The name "Dante" (as in the guy who wrote "Inferno" etc.) is short for "Durante," meaning "enduring", "lasting," or "durable."

3 weeks ago

A low-key New Years Eve this year at our house -- fewer people over than usual, and a lot of fatigue and low spirits, not to mention an utter lack of good expectations for 2025.

Hoping the reality turns out less dire than the fear.

#HappyNewYear

3 weeks ago

For those who can't get enough Holiday Letters this time of year, here's ours (with color commentary). Because what else is the Internet for?

https://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2024/12/31/2024-in-review.html

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The views expressed by me on this weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer, my church, my party, my candidate, my community, my wife, my friends, or, on occasion, myself.

Views expressed by others are, well, theirs. I reserve the right to delete them, but it’s usually better to let the marketplace of ideas hold sway, even if some packages are long past their expiry date.

Stuff I link to? Sometimes it’s because I agree with it. Sometimes because I disagree with it, but want to point (mockingly, in some cases) to my sources regardless; I have a liberal arts background; I believe in citations. And linking to stuff is what the Internet is about.

Gazing toward the Post-Natural World

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