Flatacre

Mice With Human Brains.

In January, an informal ethics committee at Stanford University endorsed a proposal to create mice with brains nearly completely made of human brain cells. Stem cell scientist Irving Weissman said his experiment could provide unparalleled insight into how the human brain develops and how degenerative brain diseases like Parkinson’s progress.

Stanford law professor Hank Greely, who chaired the ethics committee, said the board was satisfied that the size and shape of the mouse brain would prevent the human cells from creating any traits of humanity. Just in case, Greely said, the committee recommended closely monitoring the mice’s behavior and immediately killing any that display human-like behavior.

Ethically, I don't believe studying Parkinson's, or any other disease justifies this aberration. More.

The Empathic Civilization: Does Empathy Drive Everything We Do?

via reasonpartners.com

In this mind blowing presentation, Jeremy Rifkin talks about the discovery of mirror neurons which cause empathy between beings (not just human beings).

Historically, human beings are all soft wired to be empathetic towards those within a defined group, tribe, religion, nation. The first drive is to belong. Those outside the group are considered the ‘other.’

Without the event of death, there’s no empathy. It’s the shared framework of life and death that causes us to empathize with the plight of others, even animals.

Will the combination of technology and empathy drive the human race to embrace all civilization as our extended family?

And since this is a marketing and advertising blog, what impact will this discovery and the resulting ideas have on the understanding of human needs and wants? It certainly makes demographics and segmentation seem archaic.

Provocative stuff.

Love to hear what you think in the comments.