De-Extinction Argumentative Report

502 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The ethics of species 'de-extinction' essay

During the past week, I had the opportunity to participate in an organized class debate regarding the use of scientific technology to bring extinct species back to life. The debate topic was presented within the framework that technology and practices capable of achieving the feat of de-extinction have already been developed. In other words, de-extinction is no longer merely a fantastical concept of science fiction, but something that is currently being pursued. The scope of discussion was rather broad as we not only discussed the potential implications of de-extinction on the environment, but also the implications that it may have on human morals, values, health, and societal advancement. I was assigned to argue in opposition of bringing extinct organisms back to life.
This debate …show more content…

Even if scientists were able to successfully resurrect a species, the ecological niche that it once occupied will not have remained vacant waiting for it to return. Furthermore, there are very serious risks associated with resurrecting extinct organisms such as the reintroduction of diseases and the potential for abuse of power that should not be ignored. As I conducted the necessary research and debate preparation with my team, I found that my initial perspective was reinforced. My colleagues presented compelling cases against de-extinction, and going into the debate, I felt that we would be the undisputed champions. However, as I considered the arguments presented by my opponents during the debate, there was one argument that really struck me. Shelby drew upon an analogy to the space race to emphasize that the technology necessary to accomplish de-extinction has already been largely developed. She suggested that de-extinction is no longer a question as to whether or not species resurrection is possible, but rather a matter of who

Show More
Related

  • Case-Based Environmental Ethics

    1751 Words  | 4 Pages

    The long-term aim is to develop an approach to ethics that will help resolve contemporary issues regarding animals and the environment. In their classical formulations and as recently revised by animal and environmental ethicists, mainstream Kantian, utilitarian, and virtue theories have failed adequately to include either animals or the environment, or both. The result has been theoretical fragmentation and intractability, which in turn have contributed, at the practical level, to both public and private indecision, disagreement, and conflict. Immensely important are the practical issues; for instance, at the public level: the biologically unacceptable and perhaps cataclysmic current rate of species extinctions, the development or preservation of the few remaining wilderness areas, the global limitations on the sustainable distribution of the current standard of living in the developed nations, and the nonsustainability and abusiveness of today's technologically intense crop and animal farming. For individuals in their private lives, the choices include, for example: what foods to eat, what clothing to wear, modes of transportation, labor-intensive work and housing, controlling reproduction, and the distribution of basic and luxury goods. What is needed is an ethical approach that will peacefully resolve these and other quandaries, either by producing consensus or by explaining the rational and moral basis for the continuing disagreement.

    Read More

  • Themes In The Sixth Extinction By Elizabeth Kolbert

    1503 Words  | 4 Pages

    On a day to day basis, most people take for granted the lives we get to live, and put too much value on the extra things such as materialistic items. Also, the majority of humans are too invested in their personal lives or with themselves that they do not look at the big picture of how what we are doing now will effect us later. As humans, the routines in our lives can bring us harm, and within time a we may become the sixth extinction. In “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert, she gives many examples of animals that are or may become extinct. Along with ways humans contribute to the effort of putting them in danger or having them become extinct. In the end having a summary of how this all comes together and impacts us humans in more

    Read More

  • The Role of Ethics in Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    The role of ethics in modern genetic species revival is an arguable topic which takes on different stances depending upon who the author’s audiences are. In this piece, the author’s primary audience would be people who share the belief that it is ethical to revive such species. These people could include scientist, conservationists, and/or government officials because of their direct correlation to efforts similar to those that the author describes. Though there are people share the author’s beliefs, the secondary audience to this piece would include those who disagree with the author’s claim. People such as scientists, and government officials could also fall into this category, as they may disagree with the author’s claim. As a tertiary audience, the general pubic could be considered because of either their agreement, disagreement, or neutrality on the author’s claim that it is the ethical responsibility of humans to revive species which have become extinct directly due to human influence.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Exotic Animals

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine wanting not a puppy, but a tiger for your birthday, imagine the expenses of that tiger and the dangers and hazards of owning that tiger. Do you really think it’s a good idea to get that tiger? No, it’s not. It’s a lot of work, and it’s also very dangerous. Exotic animals are not good to buy and have. If you buy that cute tiger, it will eventually grow up and not be so cute, it will be dangerous and strong, it’s also a wild animal and it’s very unpredictable, also there are many diseases you can catch from that tiger, and there are many dangers of having that tiger as well. (Long sentence)

    Read More

  • The Permian Triassic Mass Extinction

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    The eradication of species numbers average at a toll close to one hundred percent of earths total living creatures. “It is the Earth's most severe known extinction event, with up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct” (Sahney, and Benton 759). Not only where marine and terrestrial species effected but this catastrophic event is the only recogni...

    Read More

  • Extinct Species Essay

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    In spite of the overwhelming amount of negative speculation, the practice of de-extinction might potentially produce some positive ramifications. According to Stewart Brand, a writer for National Geographic, humans should bring back extinct species “to preserve biodiversity, to restore diminished ecosystems...and to undo harm that humans have caused in the past.” If humans were to tamper with nature and bring back an extinct animal, desolate ecosystems which previously thrived, such as deserted islands, could be partially restored through their

    Read More

  • The Ethics of De-Extinction

    1153 Words  | 3 Pages

    De-extinction is a process that has been experimented with for many years, but has never been completely successful. The ethics and consequences of this idea have been questioned but, de-extinction has the potential to be truly helpful to humans and the environment, and many of the scenarios that people think could happen, are actually impossible. To actually revive a species, there are certain conditions that must be met, and the terrible situations that people think could happen, are unable to actually occur because of the lack of . Bringing species back that are beneficial to the environment could preserve biodiversity, restore diminished ecosystems, advance the science of preventing extinctions, and undo the harm that people have caused in the past. The true potential of the revival of species cannot be realized because people overdramatize the effects and possible outcomes. Once we realize and understand how beneficial the process of de-extinction can be we can better improve our world, our lives, and our ecosystems.

    Read More

  • Endangered Species

    2010 Words  | 5 Pages

    So what is an endangered species? What is an extinct species? What has happened to cause them to become endangered or extinct? What needs to be done in order to save the endangered species from becoming extinct? Can anything be done to save them? The answer to most of these questions is not known by everyone. With all the attention that this subject gets from the government or groups that fight for the environment, it gets the same amount of disregard from the public. Many people want to help or donate but very few of those actually follow through. This is a very important subject that needs to be taken serious by the public. It needs their full attention because they are the ones that can truly make a change. People really don’t understand the concept of extinction. If somethi...

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Endangered Species

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the world where people live in is an enormous responsibility but also the greatest gift that people need to cherish and protect. The human race needs to step up and voice not only their concerns, but the concerns of all the animals endangered or not. Any species which fall into the categories vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered are considered to be at risk of extinction. {Robert Redford} said “I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security defense of our resource’s because it’s just as important as defense abroad otherwise what is there to defend?”

    Read More

  • Extinction Essay

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    Australian researches have made major steps towards bringing frog that was extinct in 1983 back to life. Although the procedure of de-extinction is much more complex than cloning living animals. A group of scientists (Lazarus Project team) believe humans have the skill and obligation to repair the damage they have done to the world, which has caused numerous species to die out.

    Read More

  • How Have Humans Taken The Biosphere For Granted?

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    For over millions and millions of years, evolution has shaped the society we reside in today. From the oxygen we breathe in, to the plants that grow from the ground, this is all evolution in front of the naked eye going unnoticed, but to what extent have we humans taken the biosphere for granted? Within the past 500 years, humans alone had caused the extinction of approximately 1000 species, but this was not by hunting the organisms (IUCN, 2009). Since the burning of fossil fuels about 200 years ago, scientists had recorded that the carbon dioxide levels within the earth’s atmosphere has risen at an alarming rate, a rate at which species all around the planet are suffering from. If environmental factors change in an ecosystem, then the species will begin to extinct because the

    Read More

  • Marine Life Extinction Essay

    1941 Words  | 4 Pages

    Did you know that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct? According to Pandey, the author of Humans Pushing Marine Life toward ‘Major Extinction’, nearly 10,000 species go extinct each year, and this rate is estimated to be 1,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate (1). Human beings are causing irreversible damage to the oceans and their wildlife, which is being led by two major reasons: Commercial fishing or over-fishing, which damaged the marine environment and caused a loss in the marine life diversity, and pollution, which is a primary way of the extinction causes that drastically modifies the marine life habitat. As a result of the commercial fishing and pollution, many of the marine species will start disappearing of the oceans. Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more (10).”

    Read More

  • The Degradation of Ecosystems and Loss of Biodiversity

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lazaroff, Cat. “Biodiversity May Need Many Millions of Years to Recover.” Environment News Service: We Cover the Earth for You. ENS,

    Read More

  • Amazon Rainforest Extinction

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Earth is far and away the most biodiverse planet in our solar system, with about 8.7 million more unique species than the other 8 planets (UNEP). However, the Earth’s commanding lead is shrinking; not because the other planets are increasing biodiversity, but because Earth’s is decreasing. According to the World Wildlife Fund, we as a planet are losing 1,000 to 10,000 more species than the natural rate. Since the total number of species is hard to pin down, this can mean anywhere from 200 to 10,000 species going extinct per year (World Wildlife Fund). This obscenely high extinction rate is dangerous not just to ecosystems directly affected by the loss, but also creates a domino effect that circles around the globe and up and down the food

    Read More

  • Essay On Endangered Species

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    In our world today we have approximately 26,021 endangered species. Endangered species are organisms that may possible become extinct. The term 'endangered species' refers to all species that fits this description. However some conservation biologists and scientists normally use the term ‘endangered species’ to refer to species that are put on the IUCN(International Union for Conservation of Nature)Red List. Many factors can be looked at when considering the conservation status of a species. Factors such as human threats or environmental threats can cause a species to become endangered.

    Read More

More about De-Extinction Argumentative Report

Open Document