questions of science and progress in genome engineering

the virtue of morality in nature is still questionable and subjected to debate.

according to t. huxley, nature is no school of virtue and that in the context of 'survival of the fittest', nature have set examples that superiority is the key for longevity and prosper. 

in my opinion, scientists should always view the subject in different ways to understand the reality and situation of life by not falling into 'naturalistic fallacies'. taken the context from mary shelley's frankenstein, science is without guidance, and moral imperative - would be irrational. the story represents scientist's dark secrecy, driven by so-called motivation for general benefit of humanity and public good, his hunger for power led him to unethical works and irresponsibility. human is the ultimate cause of his monster's misdeed.

"genetic evolution is about to become conscious and volitional, and usher in a new epoch in the history of life" according to evolutionary biologist, edward o. wilson in his book, consilience. the current epoch is holocene and until 2008, a group of scientists announced that we had entered a new epoch called anthropocene, to emphasize the effect of human activities on the geosphere, the term which is not yet formally adopted by geological time scale.  

.... i will tell you my sin and you can sharpen your knife,

good God, let me give you my life....

there is no sweeter innocence... only gentle sin..

we were born sick, but i love it, command me to be well,

amen. amen. amen.

                                                                                     hozier - take me to church.

in the bittersweet of genome editing and creation of neo-human via tissue engineering, romanticizing the idea and discussion as T.S eliot put it in the rock

where is life that we have lost,

where is wisdom we have lost in knowledge

where is knowledge we have lost in information.

all our knowledge brings us nearer to death, 

however you disguise it, this thing does not change,

the perpetual struggle of good and evil.

stephen shapin wrote in Boston Review on the virtue of scientists, scientism virtue - can scientists be good and trustworthy given that scientific conclusion should be no more trusted like financial derivatives. a good and ethical scientist should always question and challenge his own methods and conclusions, and set boundaries, which is not to avert the scientific progression, but for security reason that in the realm of unknown, protection setting is necessary for any predicament.

the extent of financial crisis causing millions of people suffer from loss and displacement bring to the thought of the unpredictable effects of gene manipulation. 

enhancement of genetics can instigate social divisions where power and money can buy favorable traits - good looks, mathematically intelligence, tallness, superficially pale from manipulators- the scientists or famously called the human element manager, term taken  from dystopian the new brave world, by a.h. huxley.

jeniffer doudna expressed her concern in the new yorker about the consequences of her finding, and the bigger question lies in WHAT IF the technology falls to the wrong hand, as she recalled from her lucid dream with hitler, of his eugenics and human experimentation to atrocities that revealed in the nuremberg convention, we can only imagine the kind of horrible uses he could put it to.

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note://unfinished/brainstew-jaded/greenday - reading: modern prometheus, jim kozubek.

love in time and space

the darker and real side of love is there will always be pain.
..'every lover in his heart, a madman and in his head, a minstel'.. neil gaiman - in stardust.

life sometimes can be a rollercoaster ride, but perhaps we need to be reminded that from loss, remarkable things may happen. that even in the cataclysmic event of losing someone or something we dearly love, may give birth to something beautiful.

let us not let the fear of losing, tragedy and heartbreak shake our existential core - of every essence as a human. to be human is to accept fate.

the infinite thing about loving and missing someone so dear is actually the way of proceeding through space and time - that so called eternal love, lives beyond our existance.

and from my humble understanding about the relativity of time, love is evergreen. and if someday we were able to break the spell of linear time, perhaps we can stop goodbye from happening.

happy valentines day

dear daisy,

salt bae

it was very un-romantic to talk about 'lab grown meat industry' during a date that involved steak and a nice restaurant.

that was the story of my life.

for valentines day  - i would like to write about the safety and regulation on cellular agriculture and food production.

emerging biotechnology has come out with genetically modified agricultural products which has the potential in addressing the challenges related to the sustainable development such as climate change, pest control and disease, malnutrition and food insecurities. genetically modified organism technology involves alteration of organisms in genetic level and is often dubbed as 'franken food' adopting from Dr. Frankenstein's sapient creature turned monster.

despite controversy and fear, it is very important that we understand the scope and limitation of GM products to fit with the currently FDA regulation. it is also very important to re-classify and label GM products - to not be associated with natural, grown products. for example, the name of food/product is often originated from its source, i.e. milk is lactation product from cows. in this view, what should we call 'cow free milk' which produced by yeast?

and how about lab grown petri-dish steak, would this fall into 'agricultural' products instead of meat and poultry?

the rose by any other name would be genetically modified or artificial.

it is very crucial that we draw the line between biotechnology manufactured food and traditional method to define new food and facilitate more precise safety measurement regarding to genetic modification.

aquabounty GMO salmon - regulations

as in case with aquabounty, the salmon were genetically modified using genes from other fishes to grow 1.5 times faster and bigger compared to its usual rate. the FDA approval is controversial and contested - on ground that animal's genetic modification may not be safe for consumption. prion disease which can be caused by a single protein misfolding may also appear in fish.
prion disease gets fishy

cas-9 crispr technology paved the way in food industry by insertion of genetic barcode to enable the recognition of specific strain from specific organism to make it easier to verify new organism and their protein products - and to keep track through the supply chain.

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the future of food and genetic manipulation - is actually 'scarier' than i thought. what is wrong with conventional and sustainable agriculture?

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elon musk just confirmed that in order to keep up with the AI, human must evolve and integrate with the technology. (today's news)

we discussed the same thing in class last week, about creating new type of human that could breathe nitrogen instead of oxygen (and thick skin that could live with super radiation) - manipulation of warburg effect - kreb cycle - da-- daa-- daddaa-- is making me hungry. i'm planning to go to walhburgers at fenway - my metabolism need burger, bruh! warburg effect. so happy valentines day.

ebOok.reView

and nerd's guide to being confidence.

and do not be dumbF who follow all advice to be selfish, misogynist

make up your mind. be kind but not stupid.

confidence is just state of mind. 

any psychopath and uneducated are confident with their arts, otherwise they wouldn't be who they are.

many times in life we would stumble and fall to tricks by the con-artists. that include this nerd's guide. totally un-cool so take only good points and move on to the next level. do not reject totally, cause the process of idea and mind are evolving.

let is snow. boston.

caingorm - scotland, united kingdom.
and the scarf that i bought when i was in third year at korea, which is now belong to diklak. (and i got myself a newt scamander's hupplepuff scarf)

oh... how sentimental.

this morning i woke up to a song by augustana, called boston. sent by a friend - really summed up mixed feelings about everything after being stood up yesterday. it was ten degrees below freezing cold, and most surface were still covered by wednesday's snow - reminded me of kahlil gibran's quote on kindness and snow - beautifies everything it touches. i didn't care about the wind, even if i look like - a resting bitch face. i was more afraid of the icy and slippery pathway cause i sprained my ankle a day before. another injury would add another 20 years to my age with walking stick.

a boston song, augustana.
'oh dear you look so lost' -- and all the same excuses that i gave to everyone, i think you don't know me.. i think i'm starting over, i think i'm going to boston... where no one knows my name.

writer's block
i think i am lacking of structural organization and prioritization (on random knowledge), --- i even took a creative writing class while waiting to enter into the new lab, and my current reading aside from news and biotechnology - is on edgar allen poe, the eccentric genius who traveled through time.

for independent activities program at school in january - february, i took a course on astrobiology, simply because of its sci-fact appeal. reading michio kaku, lisa randall and kip thorne helped a lot, although the classes pointed me that i should be reading text book to understand the basics.

oh.. brian greene cancelled his lecture last week due to severe weather... and neil gaiman is coming to boston public library in april (couldn't get a sit... but on the waiting list, still have the time to read norse mythology.... but wait i haven't finished reading saga - which i bought in iceland last september. urgh ).

john mayer is coming too, and i need a funding. perhaps i can speed dial my DAD! (all caps exclamation excitation exclesior excellent choice) - don't blame me, blame hashtag potus tweets.

dare to be 'richard parker'  

the raven

hello boston.

reading: watching

sherlock holmes the six thatchers

face the fear

as i pledged myself to enroll in swimming class again this year, i had a dream of a great white shark lurking in the pool, next to my body, watching with her evil eyes.

then my nephew woke me up. (i dont know if he actually saving me or just being extra cheeky - with blocks of lego in my shirt and in blanket).

2017. bring it on. my brain is getting fragmented, burning out and perhaps going to my sister is the best idea in the world to seek solace.

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this entry was actually random thoughts from

sherlock holmes.. and' i love your blog'... thing. (i guess i'm in the verge of abandoning social media, but then i found myself doing twitter... using a pseudoname of a jellyfish - immortal brainless but sting like hell)

that shark was the imaginary excerpt from sherlock holmes' episode of  the six thatcher. anecdotes from the appointment in samarra.. how i wish i could save the one i love from predestined fate. and like sherlock holmes, i always hated the story.
appointment in samarra

last friday i was at baker street, from victoria station coming from sheffield - miss me?
there were too many people at 221b, so i decided to sit at pret a manger, for a nice americano and nice reading.

two weeks before i was in reading, made a stop at a hotel called the great expectations, opened by the famous charles dickens. at that time, i was thinking about the exact moment of an incident, that lead to the very thing that happens now. ah, human mind is so fallible.

dad was on the phone last night. his blood test did not come out good. diabetes is a debilitating disease caused by malfunction of insulin receptor, or inability of pancreas to excrete insulin. there was a research on cell reprogramming to generate cellular ability to produce insulin, but it was retracted just two weeks ago - pulling the research back to where it was before - question marks. i emailed the professor a year ago on his groundbreaking research - but to no avail. maybe he just want me to google the papers myself.
now i feel bad about answering: everything about me is on the internet. there's nothing special. (and that kind of arrogance putting me off from anyone - unless they come with special kind of hat.

diabetes is a heart breaking and puzzling at the same time. it is genetic or is it lifestyles? food or oxidative stress. it is upsetting. at times i feel helpless.

writing from reading:
to london at evening.