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Ponderings - Compassionate Zoomorphs?
14 years ago
In response to my recent LJ entry about the death of the last two barn-kittens, 
shadwalk commented about how compassion for other species was a trade-mark of humanity, and he wondered if true zoomorphs would share that emotion. I replied that I felt that any zoomorphs that were bio-engineered by humans mostly likely would have, as it would be a trait that we would want, and need.
That got me thinking about that whole idea. If we were bio-engineering zoomorphs as helpers and companions, then we would definitely want that trait to be built into them. But what about if (Ha! Let's face it, when!) the Military gets involved? What then? Would they want to bio-engineer a species that would be empathetic and compassionate about potential enemy troops? There's a real problem in that situation: If they were engineered to have such traits, they may refuse to fight or kill. But if they don't have those traits, what would keep them from turning against their creators? Would we eventually wind up with a "Planet of the Apes" scenario where the human race is reduced to slave or pet status, if not completely erradicated?
Furries may romanticize the idea of zoomorphs, but like any other great advancement, the military would only see it as a potential weapon. This is not to say that we haven't also had some of our own great civilian advancements as a by-product of military R&D (Global Positioning Satellites being a great example!) but it just seems sad that so much of our technology is used to destroy insead of create.
Which leads me to another pondering... Do the Creators in society need the Destroyers in order to keep advancing? If it wasn't for the destruction of things, would the creation of new things eventually cease? Would stagnation become a real threat? It is said that Necessity is the Mother of Invention, but what happens when we run out of "things we need?" Many of things we "need" were (are) things that we didn't even know we "needed" until someone came up with it. Electricity is a prime example: It hasn't been around that long really, but the whole world comes to a screaming halt whenever the power goes out.
Things to think about...
shadwalk commented about how compassion for other species was a trade-mark of humanity, and he wondered if true zoomorphs would share that emotion. I replied that I felt that any zoomorphs that were bio-engineered by humans mostly likely would have, as it would be a trait that we would want, and need.That got me thinking about that whole idea. If we were bio-engineering zoomorphs as helpers and companions, then we would definitely want that trait to be built into them. But what about if (Ha! Let's face it, when!) the Military gets involved? What then? Would they want to bio-engineer a species that would be empathetic and compassionate about potential enemy troops? There's a real problem in that situation: If they were engineered to have such traits, they may refuse to fight or kill. But if they don't have those traits, what would keep them from turning against their creators? Would we eventually wind up with a "Planet of the Apes" scenario where the human race is reduced to slave or pet status, if not completely erradicated?
Furries may romanticize the idea of zoomorphs, but like any other great advancement, the military would only see it as a potential weapon. This is not to say that we haven't also had some of our own great civilian advancements as a by-product of military R&D (Global Positioning Satellites being a great example!) but it just seems sad that so much of our technology is used to destroy insead of create.
Which leads me to another pondering... Do the Creators in society need the Destroyers in order to keep advancing? If it wasn't for the destruction of things, would the creation of new things eventually cease? Would stagnation become a real threat? It is said that Necessity is the Mother of Invention, but what happens when we run out of "things we need?" Many of things we "need" were (are) things that we didn't even know we "needed" until someone came up with it. Electricity is a prime example: It hasn't been around that long really, but the whole world comes to a screaming halt whenever the power goes out.
Things to think about...
People who do nothing but destroy create nothing. The things that are created are made by the people who create. Those things can be used for destruction, but as you pointed out, they almost always have other uses. Jet engines developed for war have made modern travel possible. The thrusters that took us to the moon were originally developed to bomb England. Emergency trauma medicine would not exist had it not been for war, but it saves lives in car wrecks. So it will be with robots, and organic robots (zoomorphs). I've been thinking about this a lot for a story I'm writing, and what I've come up with is "people will be people." In other words, extrapolate the course of invention and adaptation of almost every other technology, and it will be similar for organic lifeforms.