Re:RoboRoach: Control a cockroach with a smartphone.
by akiselev on Monday June 17, 2013 @06:03AM
(#5892280)
I've read some of the comments and the project creators obviously aren't callous about it. They claim that it actually helps students get a respect for the cockroach beyond that of a pest. An interesting and great result if true.
I'm going to go ahead and back this despite my ethical concerns. The stuff coming up in biotech (even stuff that's already here and quite widely implemented, i.e. in vitro zygote selection) is much scarier from an ethics standpoint. If this Kickstarter gets more attention it could help drive a very fruitful discussion.
I ask this question half in jest, but I kind of have a sick feeling about a Kickstarter project for invasively implanting neurostimulators into an animal for people's entertainment[1]. I'm a religious supporter of animal testing for scientific progress and I've done much worse (mice instead of cockroaches) but always in an academic setting where everyone took the life of the animal seriously[2]. Is this just an irrational and emotional response to this being done outside of an academic setting? I know it's just cockroaches, but...
[1] I mean, how many people will see this and think "Oh I'll teach my kid neuroscience" instead of "OMG LOOK ITS A CYBORG ROACH"
Edit: [2] Clarification, everyone in the lab I was in respected the life of the test animals and went quite far sometimes to make sure they were "comfortable." Although there was usually a somber mood when we had to euthanize an animal.