(September 19, 2011 at 12:03 am)popeyespappy Wrote: The technology already exists to make the required changes via recombinant DNA techniques using viruses as biological vectors to carry foreign genes into cells. Not only can the viruses be engineered to carry the new genetic material into the target cells, but they can also be fixed so that once introduced into the host they do not reproduce in an uncontrolled fashion harming the host.
Much of our DNA is dedicated to controlling growth during prenatal development. It does this by controlling the timing and production of proteins during gestation. This in turn controls the development and growth of each and every part of us. Organs, skeletal structure, muscles the whole nine yards. Many of these processes are only active during gestation. They turn on, run for a given period of time, then turn off never to be heard from again. What this means is that there are many changes that could be made to our DNA that would result in children developing differently than their parents that would not affect the parent at all.
Right now our knowledge of our DNA is not sufficient for us to engineer a new designer species. With a little bit of experimentation we could however easily control for some of the simple things we do understand like eye color. With a little more experimentation growing tails or developing gills is not out of the question. As our knowledge of our DNA grows the only thing from stopping us from making even bigger changes in the future are ethical considerations.
Weaponizing the process is another issue. A problem that’s solution could be as simple as introducing the engineered viruses into the food supply. Although I suspect there would probably be more to it than that. As I’ve already tried to explain if we understood the changes we wanted to make well enough, we could make changes to an adult’s DNA that would only affect any future children that person might have. While the OP’s original hypothesis currently resides firmly in the realm of science fiction, the technology exists to make it happen already. We lack only the detailed knowledge of which developmental processes are controlled by what parts of the DNA to make it possible.
I'm not arguing that we can't do some wonderful things, but what you describe is not nearly enough to do what is suggested in the OP. You say "target cells" and talk about introducing viruses that do not replicate into a host. Therein lies one of countless problems with the premise. He's talking about a mother passing on a virus to a fetus in her body -- a virus that would change the fetus into a different species, after having moved through the mother's body into the womb. Yes, the virus is genetically engineered, but he spoke of no intricate introduction process, though I stand by the fact that intricate introduction into the fetus or no, it is not possible to change a monkey to a whale in the womb. On top of all of this, how do we know that a human body would not reject an inhuman body as a foreign object, if such a change actually took place? Really, just because something could hypothetically work on a cellular level does not mean it will work in the womb, with no fiddling done before insemination -- meaning natural reproduction.
