Artificial Natural

Eduardo Kac may consider her a piece of art, but to me, Alba is rather an example of the abuse of science and modern technology. To be honest, I really don't understand the desire to add genetic material from jellyfish to a rabbit embryo just to make it glow for sake of art. "He describes this as 'a new kind of art' that will cure us of from needing to "paint as we painted in the caves'"1



Looking at pictures of poor Alba was nothing but disturbing to me. We might live in world where almost anything is possible in science, yet I don't think we should overuse our power and interfere in nature like that. It's amazing that we can push the boundaries far enough to create something as bizarre as Alba, but really, there is a reason why rabbits don't glow in the first place and people should not try to change that. Especially not, if this genetic experiment is to no one's benefit.

Maybe I would have a slightly different opinion on that matter if alternating Alba's genes would have helped to find a cure for cancer, but as Kac has stressed, she was merely created to be showcased in an exhibition. Which quite frankly, I find really sick, as there are a million other ways to express yourself in art without messing up mammals. We might consider us superior to the animals because we can talk and think and are not just guided by our instincts, but I don't think that should give people the right to play around with genetics as they please, just because they can.

After all, who knows what could be next? Glowing babies?

sources: http://george.loper.org/trends/2000/Oct/78.html
1 - Dale Hoyt: http://www.stretcher.org/archives/r9_a/kac_dh.php
image from: http://george.loper.org/trends/2000/Oct/neonrabbit.jpg