I keep getting this feeling that theres supposed to be some reason why Im not supposed to like Craig Venter, but I cant help it. I like him. Hes a mad scientist, and I dont think I will be truly happy until I work for a mad scientist, and ultimately succeed him/her as lead lunatic.
Carl Zimmer interviewed him last week, and theyve got the interview up at BloggingheadsTV.
I kinda think hes awesome-- talking about health care, the sad state of government funding for science, comparing humans to sharks, 'junk DNA', epigenetics, creating organisms from scratch... But I cant shake the feeling that theres supposed to be *some* reason why Im not supposed to like him?
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Carl Zimmer interviews Craig Venter
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13 comments:
Yeah, I don't get it either. All I can figure is jealousy of the happy capitalist.
But now, unfortunately, I realize that my favorite blogger is also my competition...
theres supposed to be *some* reason why Im not supposed to like him?
Um, because he takes successful shortcuts like shot-gun sequencing instead of "proper" science? :-)
Everyone loves a successful individual. Venter is more lovable than most.
Probably because he was racing the Human Genome Project and was going to patent it all rather than making it freely available?
When someone holds up Francis Collins as an example of compatibility of science with religion, and points to his directorship of the Human Genome Project as an example of his scientific prowess, I like to remind them at Craig Venter ate half his lunch.
Sorry, Anon, but Ventner made the human genome freely available. It was a difference in opinion over technique that drove Ventner. Ventner used the shotgun technique and the HGP didn't. Ventner's approach worked well.
It's history, Anon. Try reading up on it.
Now that I've moved from the economically and scientifically prosperous (not to mention fun) west to the mid-west (which comes up short in all of those categories), my hair has been (as though to add insult to injury) reacting to the humidity in its own special way.
I look like Doc Brown.
Anyway, I'm not going to be doing much other than teaching lower devision math courses for a while, soooo I could scare up the venture capital to start a Mad Science institute. I already have the hair. I'll give you a ring if I need someone to head up the division of wherever you are.
I see Neal is off his meds again, but can't find his way back to The Panda's Thumb. It must be a bad recurrence this time, as the max number of !'s on the convenient Neal Insanity Scale has jumped from 5 to 7.
Well, at least this site has some expertise in diseases. :-P
then I think you'll enjoy some stories told in "The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life...."
I did.
Dembski? Is that you? :p
I dont know what I was thinking of. Ah well, its nice to know I dont have to feel bad about liking him! Hurray!
I do want to check out that book, Israel-- Christmas break reading!
hehehe And Im stealing that line, tegumai :D
Bill, it's pretty ridiculous to advise someone to "read up" on a topic when a) you can't seem to spell the name of the person in question, and b) you're wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celera_Genomics
He only made it free AFTER the massive outcry and redoubling of the federally funded project. That's why there's a bad taste in people's mouths, not solely because of the difference in technique. Not saying it was a bad thing, in the end it obviously wasn't, but there was a lot of debate about it at the time.
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