> From: Terry Blanton ...
> Synchronocity all over again. > > (Not about Douglas Adams :-�) > ... > http://www.gewo.applet.cz/health/DNA_1e.htm I read this article and was somewhat surprised that it kept my interest. Having programmed in several languages, like Fortran, Pascal, C, C++, FORTH, COBOL, PL/1 during my professional career I was curious about the premise claiming that massive amounts of our genetic code had essentially been "commented out." It's an interesting premise if not a clever one. Ultimately, what struck me personally about this essay was the feeling that I was reading the genesis of modern mythology in the making. Of course, a few clever SF writers have already written about these possibilities. One of the most clever Science Fiction "B" movies I can think of that explores the premise that our genetic heritage had been manipulated by aliens is: "Quatermass and the Pit.", currently available on DVD. For example, you can find it out on Amazon.com. In "Quatermass" we discover that humans millions of years ago were genetically modified by an intelligent race of Martian hive-minded insectoid creatures. Their own planet was dieing and, by proxy, they attempted to propagate their own "likeness" through genetically modifying some promising apes on our planet. Traits like telekinesis and telepathy, according to the Quatermass story were actually genetic modifications encoded within the human race as a way to control us - to keep us within the Body of the Hive Mind. Unfortunately, for the Martian race they all died off millions of years ago and the reintroduced humans with their genetic modifications had to fend for themselves. Gradually our special genetic modifications began to mutate over time into less powerful traits - meaning some still had telepathy while others no longer did. However, even after 5 million years had passed when a Martian vessel under a British pub was accidentally reactivated a significant portion of t! he population, once again, were once again under the absolute control of the Hive Mind emanating from the Martian ship. Chaos and mayhem ruled in the British streets as those under the Hive Mind control attempted to PURGE those not under the Hive Mind control - until Professor Quarter mass (who BTW was himself valiantly struggling to overcome the Dark Side of the Martian Hive Mind that was trying to control him) found a way to deactivate the Martian ship. OK, end of story. Go rent the DVD. Really good entertainment on a "B" budjet! As for whether we REALLY have been genetically modified, I guess the jury is still out on that one. As a computer programmer it is indeed a common professional practice to comment out code for a number of different reasons. Some code is commented out because it is only used for debugging reasons. Other code is commented out because new business rules dictate different functions. Programmers often chose not to simply delete no longer code because they are paranoid, and rightly so I might add, that some of those business rules might get rescinded. Nice to have it already there instead of having to reinvent the wheel. Personally what would more likely convince me of some external meddling in our genetic code would be if some geneticists discovers data in the "junk code" that could not be interpreted any other way other than meaning: Property of: xxx Version 3.440. Activation Date: xxxx Next scheduled modification date: xxxx Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com
