We'll have trans-mice before we ever have transhumans. Consider:
Mice have already been the focus of the most successful life-extension research ever carried out, and they are at the center of the even more ambitious Methusaleh Mouse Prize. I'll wager that the first living thing revived from cryonic freeze will be a mouse. And I'll bet we have mice uploaded into computers long before humans ever do it.
Now, via KurzweilAI.net, Paul Allen is taking a step in that direction by donating $100 million to fund a project called "The Brain Atlas."
The basic aim, he said, is to use the tools of biology, computers and neuroscience to locate active genes in the mammalian brain as a step closer to understanding how the mysterious organ functions.
Of the estimated 30,000 genes in the human genome, scientists have evidence that as many as two-thirds play a critical role in brain development and function. Insel said it is estimated that at least 6,000 of these genes are only "expressed" (active) in the brain.
The mammalian brain that they're going to study will not be a human brain, however. It will be a mouse brain.
Boguski said findings in the mouse brain should often translate directly to humans -- and offer new insights into human behavior, memory, cognition and mental disorders.
It is expected that the map will shed some light on the old, "nature vs. nurture" debate as well as the "brain vs. mind debate." Of course, settling these particular questions for mice won't be the same as settling them for human beings. But it's a start.
If we push on with these various threads, we might eventually reach some kind of Mouse Singularity, where the übermice take over their own evolution. We can only hope that, if such a thing occurs, these highly evolved progeny will look back fondly on us, and provide us some assistance in our evolution. Alternatively, they might decide to put out the human equivalent of cheese-baited spring-loaded traps.
In which case, I'd be a little concerned about what might become of our cats.
Posted by Phil at September 16, 2003 07:18 AM | TrackBack