The Mammoth Cometh

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/magazine/the-mammoth-cometh.html

by kanamekun • 12 years ago

80 31 12 years ago

nytimes.com

SeanDav3• 12 years ago

Paywall is stopping me - any way to see this once I have reached my 10 articles per month limit?

shawabawa3• 12 years ago

Usually either incognito mode or searching the article title and following the google link work

elorant• 12 years ago

Delete the NYT cookies.

jmnicolas• 12 years ago

I use the Disconnect extension and no paywall. This is a long article btw.

dangrossman• 12 years ago

any way to see this once I have reached my 10 articles per month limit?

Yes, by purchasing a subscription or waiting until next month.

Sidenote: Does asking for instructions to bypass DRM (however weak) on copyrighted material put anyone that responds in the position of committing contributory copyright infringement? Secondary liability is a real thing in the US at least.

SeanDav3• 12 years ago

Perhaps HN should block links to articles behind paywalls?

DontBeADick2• 12 years ago

No need to be a dick about it.

They made the paywall easy to bypass intentionally.

berberous• 12 years ago

I think the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA are not technically copyright infringement, but sui generis prohibitions on breaking digital locks. That said, contributory copyright liability is a judge made doctrine, so it's possible one could analogize and attempt the same thing with the DMCA, but I'm not sure if anyone has done it, or if a judge would ever accept it. It would probably depend on the facts of the case at hand.

(Disclaimer: I could be wrong about all of the above.)

z92• 12 years ago

Turn off JavaScript for that site.

I use this plugin for Chrome. Once you turn off JS for a site, it stays turned off for future visits.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/geddoclleiomckbhad...

ChrisNorstrom• 12 years ago

Open up the link in a new incognito window. That's all. It works every time. Don't clear cookies, or disable javascript, or any of that other stuff.

Shivetya• 12 years ago

the other application of all these new forms of life will be their eventual use in making other planets, namely Mars habitable or less inhospitable. Granted that view is based on my reading Red Mars currently

el_zorro• 12 years ago

The quote at the end of the article really struck me:

"We are as gods, and might as well get good at it."

I think that this is something that everyone involved with technology and science should think about. The fear of what we can create should never stop us from creating, but should instead serve as an impetus for more enlightened uses. I think that, as we have the ability to create biological diversity, we should do so (albeit in a responsible way). The same goes for every other technology that is being developed.

valarauca1• 12 years ago

The quote is taken form the Whole Earth Catalog [1]. Jobs referenced it a lot the quote you are using is its first line. Its last line which is often attributed to Jobs is in fact the, "Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Catalog

nkoren• 12 years ago

The reference -- and the concern about tinkering with the tree of life -- goes a bit further back:

"And YHVH said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now -- lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever -- let us send him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." -- Genesis 3:22-3:24

(Nb.: Citation of religious text does not imply endorsement thereof.)

giantrobothead• 12 years ago

Funny that you should mention the Whole Earth Catalog, as Stewart Brand has been heavily involved in this venture.

TED Radio Hour did a piece on this in a recent show. It's worth a listen:

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/10/209178988/the-hackers?showDate...

mjhoy• 12 years ago

The counterargument to fears about disease is ridiculous:

But nature is totally random.

Does David Haussler really believe that? That whatever species exist in an ecosystem today is just some random set? That evolution is noise in the background? How would he characterize natural selection? Would he say we shouldn't care about invasive species at all, since what we humans introduce can't be any worse than "totally random"?

It's a bad argument, and the NYT should not have let him get away with it. They even go so far as to use part of it in a pull quote!

cliveowen• 12 years ago

That is way too long for web,let alone mobile, consumption. What's the TL;DR version?

snake_plissken• 12 years ago

"We spared no expense."

etanazir2• 12 years ago

Might be some money in a Wooly Mammoth wool clothing line.

waraey• 12 years ago

Am I the only one who wants them to be brought back so I can have a Wooly Mammoth steak?

mmmm....Mammoth Steak

etanazir2• 12 years ago

the people who tried elephant steak did'nt go so far with their recommendation;

protomyth• 12 years ago

I'm fine with them bringing back the Mammoth since it at least was recent, but I do have some concerns about other animals. We probably should not bring back any apex predators for a while (T Rex or for the love of all that's holy a Meglaodon).

I am a bit concerned that it will not survive with the evolution of other things (e.g. disease).

The Mammoth Cometh

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