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So a recent set of controversies has to do with the funding by the federal government
最近在联邦政府的赞助下 开展了一系列有关 嵌合体研究 的讨论
about a research that mixes human and animal genetic material sometimes called chimeras,
嵌合体是指将人类和动物的基因组交叉混合后形成的个体
but there's actually a broader – so again, the method is to think about a large number
但其实界限更宽—所以 通过大量案例总结后得到的方法
of cases; it's helpful to think about very different cases.
一般对于不同案例的思考也是很有帮助的
So to use some real cases imagine you mixed human brain cells, so human brain stem cells
所以你可以去想象 你混合了人类的脑细胞
in the embryonic stage into a mouse to create a mouse with a humanized brain and it wouldn't be a human brain.
老鼠混合了人类的胚胎脑细胞从而创造出了一只具有类人大脑的老鼠 那绝对不是人类的大脑
It isn't exactly the same. It's much smaller, for example, but has humanized elements.
这两种是不同的 比如 它更小 但它具有人类大脑的元素
Another example is imagine you took a gorilla, treated the gorilla exactly as it is but were
另一个例子是 想象你有一只大猩猩 你像对待大猩猩那样对待它
able to generate a human looking face, so a gorilla with a human face, how would we think about that entity?
但这只大猩猩可能有一张人脸 所以 一只长着人脸的大猩猩 我们到底把它看作人还是 看作大猩猩？
Third example, humanized immune system.
第三个例子 人类免疫系统
Took a mouse and we do this with, we have these at Harvard, for example, and created
比如在哈佛大学 我们在老鼠体内种植了人类的免疫系统
an immune system in order to test drugs, think about HIV, for example, that was humanized.
来测试对人类病毒 比如艾滋病毒 的免疫能力
So not the brain but just the immune system was very human like.
所以不是大脑而是只有免疫系统和人类相似
And last example is actually valve replacements, heart valve replacements.
最后一个例子 瓣膜替换 心脏瓣膜替换
So Jesse Helms, a senator had a pig valve placement years ago so there's a piece of an animal in him.
杰西·赫尔姆斯 一位议员 他在几年前与猪进行过瓣膜替换 所以他体内有一部分动物的器官
So these are four examples of different kinds of mixing and the question is which are okay and which are not okay?
以上是列举的四种不同物种之间进行交换的例子 现在的问题是 哪种做法可行？
Why can we generate some principles?
为什么我们能够立下原则？
So what might be wrong with mixing human and animal parts?
而人类和动物混合后会有什么后果？
So one thing that might be wrong is that we think it will confuse the boundaries between
有件事儿可能是错的 我们以为我们会混淆动物和人类的界限
humans and animals, that right now we have a pretty clear distinction.
但 我们其实能够非常明确的进行区别
Many people love their dogs and their cats like members of the family.
很多人会是像爱家里人那样爱他们的狗啊猫啊的
They are able to say this is not a member of my family.
但他们不会说这是我的家人
This is not a member that has the same rights as my family member.
它们没有家里其他人那样的权力
In a world where we had much more of a continuum between animals and human beings those distinctions would become difficult.
不过在这个世界 当人们和动物之间的联系越来越紧密时区分会变得困难
Now just because they become difficult doesn't mean that that's wrong, it just posed for us a new problem.
现在会变得困难但并不是说前面是错的只是又为我们带来了新的问题
Maybe it would illustrate a problem we should be thinking about all together.
或许这个问题我们一开始就该重视
So I'm not particularly sympathetic to that argument.
我不赞同这个观点
A different arguments though is to say human beings are particular kinds of things with
另一个不同观点认为 人类是一种有特定类型的事物
particular kinds of capacities and there's a dignity to being a human being.
有着特定的能力与尊贵
And if we were to mix enough animal material into a human being the thing that we would
并且如果我们在一个人类体内混合入太多动物的东西
have would not be something new but would be a human being that could not flourish as a human being.
这并不会成为一个新物种 只会成为一个不是人类的人类
It would be an undignified human being, a kind of entity that is one of that really
它会是一个丧失人格的人 是一种没办法经历
is unable to really experience what it is to be human.
人类所能经历的物种
Now again, you might push on this and say well yes that's true they would not be a human
这时候 你或许会赞同这个观点 也认为 对啊 它们不是人了
being and they would not necessarily have all the capacities of a human being.
它们都不一定有人类的能力了
So imagine having some of the capacities of a human being being stuck in a rat's body for example.
然后你再想想 如果一只老鼠体内有着人类的一部分
Sure they would be ways in which you would not flourish as a human being, but why not
然后它们很可能不能像人那样活着
think of you as flourishing as a new kind of entity?
那就活出新自我 成为新的物种
And in particular you might actually think there might be an obligation to create some kinds of chimeras.
由此你会觉得你有义务去创造出更多的嵌合体
So if, for example, we think of Big Bird from Sesame Street, it sounds like a silly example
比如 让我们来想一下那只芝麻街（幼儿教育电视节目）的大鸟（发声布袋戏人偶） 好吧这个有点蠢
but it's a good one right?
但还挺符合情境的对吧？
Big Bird talks. Big Bird has friends.
大鸟说话 大鸟有朋友
Big Bird goes to school, been at school a long time on Sesame Street I guess, but he seems to have a pretty good life.
大鸟去上学 我猜他在芝麻街上学很久了 但看起来它的生活挺好
Imagine if we could take regular birds and turn them into Big Birds by doing something to them.
想象一下如果我们通过采取某些措施来把普通的鸟变成大鸟那样
Would we think of that as improving a little bird's life or do we think about that as hurting
我们会认为这种混合是在改善小鸟的生活呢还是
a human being's life through this mixture?
在危害一个人类的生活？
Hard questions, but at least it might be possible that we think we're doing animals a favor by doing this.
很难说 但至少有可能我们会认为这种混合是在帮助小鸟
And other answers might say it depends a lot on the specifics of the case.
或许有人会说 这取决于很多因素
There are changes we could make to human beings by mixing in animal DNA that might make them
我们可以通过混合动物的DNA来改变人类 这或许会让人类更好
better, and there are changes we could make to human beings that might make them worse
也可能会让人类变得更糟糕
and worse from a moral perspective.
甚至是道德层面上的更糟糕
So, for example, if it turned out that there was, to use an example of the literature,
所以 用一个著名的例子来说 如果在人的体内
we could give human beings night vision so they could see at night like some animals
混入一段动物的DNA从而让他们拥有夜视的能力
through mixing in a little animal DNA.
然后他们就能像有些动物那样晚上也能看见
You might think that would be great.
你可能觉得 哎呀那多好啊
We could do more search and rescue.
我们可以进行更多的搜索和救援
We'd be better drivers. There would be less fatalities.
我们能成为更好的司机 会有更少的事故发生
On the other hand if the result was to produce human beings that had much stronger aggression
而另一方面 如果混合的结果是这个人有了更强的进攻性
or violence or claws or something like that you might think that's worse because we're going to do more harm.
或暴力倾向或爪子或者是其他类似的 那你可能觉得这真是糟透了 因为我们会因此受到更多伤害
And that would suggest that the answer about whether we ought to have chimeras or not and
这表明 对于我们是否应该以及该如何创造嵌合体
what kind can only be answered in a particularistic way of thinking about a particular case.
特定情况下有特定的答案
I will say, and this is kind of referencing some work by my friend Ed Greely at Stanford,
借鉴我朋友ED Greely在斯坦福的一些工作
that there are particular kinds of changes which from a sociological perspective seem to bother us more.
我觉得 从社会学角度来看 有些特别部位的变化似乎会带给我们更多的困扰
And he describes them as kind of brains, balls and faces.
这些部位主要是指大脑 生殖器和脸部
So brains, it turns out we're very disturbed by the idea of human brains or humanized brains
比如就大脑来说 我们会因为制造人类大脑或类人大脑的想法而困扰
in animals, much more disturbed by the humanized brain in mice than we are by the humanized
而比起在老鼠身上种植人类的免疫系统这个想法
immune system in mice, for example. The other is balls.
在老鼠身上弄出类人大脑这个想法更困扰人类 另一个是生殖器
We tend to be very nervous when we think about the idea, and this is kind of crazy and out
当想到这个想法的时候我们就变得非常紧张 毕竟这个想法太疯狂了
there, imagine you could create an animal that had the ability to reproduce it's gonads,
想象一下可能会创造出个动物 这个动物有繁殖的能力
it's reproductive system was human so that you'd have animals mating and producing human beings and animals.
而它的生殖器和人类一样 所以你可以和这个动物进行交配然后 生下人和动物
That's the kind of thing that I think disturbs a lot of people as an idea. And the last is faces.
这是一个我觉得会让很多人困扰的问题 最后一个是脸部
The idea of having animals with human faces, for example, I think just disturbs a lot of people.
比如 我觉得一个动物有着人脸这个想法就困扰很多人了
Even though you might say a face is a face, but it's a marker of human beings in the way
虽然你可能说只是个脸而已啊 但是人脸是我们维持人际关系的一个标志啊
we relate to each other and I think there's just a strong sociological pushback against that.
并且我觉得肯定会有强大的社会阻力阻拦着这种事情
