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Comment by drukenemo | Hacker News Reader

I know I’ll be downvoted, but here it goes: there’s an implicit and unavoidable act of rebellion (to a potential God), in this and other similar scientific research.

Even if you’re atheist, you cannot escape the underlying reference to a Biblical story: I want the freedom to be like a God.

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If you don't accept the proposition of the supernatural, how can you rebel against it?

Any mastery of nature could be viewed as rebellion against mysticism. Viewed in that context, humans have been rebelling since they learned how to create fire on demand rather than relying on 'God' to gift it from the heavens.

Is that not the story of the Bible as well?

> And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Now the question is if the Bible views this "inculcation" of God-like-ness to be a good or bad thing. In a Gnostic interpretation this transcendence from Man into God is the ultimate goal.

I think the real question is, why should we care what some sharmen that have been dead several millenniums would think?

Oh, I just think it's interesting to think about these things! They've obviously played a huge role in the development of our modern societies (at least in the west) and studying the theology is just an interesting and revealing thing to do.

Why do we study history? Same reason :)

I take your point. It's worth studying these things out of curiosity, but I wouldn't seek guidance from these fables any more than I'd seek Napoleon's advice on air-to-air combat tactics.

Consider that our electromechanical technology is already at the level of various animals. Are we not gods already? Why not biological technology, then?

What if I belong to a monkey worshipping cult whose god commands man to create hybrid monkey-men?

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