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A comment on RoboRoach: Control a cockroach with a smartphone.. Parent comment

Re:RoboRoach: Control a cockroach with a smartphone. by milkshakes on Monday June 17, 2013 @09:43AM (#5893050)
I don't know, Alex. It still smells like playing god. Research, formal or informal is at least ostensibly justifiable if it is performed with respect and in the name of furthering individual or collective knowledge. Do you really think that's what's going on here?

Doesn't it seem more like it's being marketed as an educational toy? Is it really appropriate to transform other life forms into our toys?

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Re:RoboRoach: Control a cockroach with a smartphone. by akiselev on Monday June 17, 2013 @04:59PM (#5895917)
This isn't playing god, this is using tiny electrodes to change the voltage potential across neurons (it's not even a shock, it's not painful). We don't start playing god until we have a good grasp of the genetic code and can manipulate it.

Bramie, I don't necessarily approve of their presentation but their product is an effective teaching tool, especially if their iPhone is better than the crap neuroscientists usually have to deal with. I just hope the people who buy the roackes understand that.

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