We recently published a post on scientists that are bringing the gastric brooding frog back from extinction. As genetic engineers move closer to bringing this species back, we had this to say:
While this frog is most notorious for its odd reproductive habits, perhaps it is fitting that the next specimen will emerge not from its parents mouth, but from the figurative petri dish of another species entirely: Homo Sapiens.
I watched a TED talk by one of the scientists that is working on this project and who is also working to bring back the extinct Thylacine – an animal that is kind of a mix of a kangaroo and a dog. It is definitely worth watching, as Michael Archer seems to validate many of the claims we have made on the Post Scarcity Alliance. Archer recognizes that the gastric brooding frog’s ability to regulate its gastric fluids to change from digestion to gestation is a genetic capability that a could exploited by a market. If this is in fact true, the only barrier preventing the revival of this extinct species is a rapidly deteriorating technological barrier. This confirms the claim that we have regularly made that genetic engineering will turn biodiversity as a marketable commodity as opposed to an abstraction of soft science. The result will be an explosion of biodiversity which will make laws like the Endangered Species Act obsolete.
Towards the end of the talk, Archer also makes the curious observation that people used to keep Thylacine as pets. I suspect a market for previously extinct rare species will become a robust market in the future for wealthy high-profile individuals who want to broadcast their eco-sensitivities through conspicuous consumption e.g. all of Hollywood. Why carry a yippy chihuahua through Beverly Hills, when you can own a sensitive species brought back from extinction.
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