Pig related inspiration

I have been away this weekend and so I’m out of my usual routine. It is usually a food blog but I just thought that the news was worthy of note.

Obviously the greatest stories are the death of Mohammed Ali and the forthcoming EU Referendum, but there was also another weird story which is also quite worrying from a moral standpoint. It is also the stuff that could form the basis of stories, if inspirational in a weird sense.

 

In America scientists are trying to grow human organs in pigs! Now we can pull that fact apart in all sorts of directions and here are a few.

 

 

1. Simply should humans be playing God? 

 

This is an argument that pertains in a number of scenarios ranging from organ transplant to assisted suicide. It is an emotive subject that tends to polarise opinion. Even the normally garrulous author of this blog is not willing to nail his flag to the mast on this one.

 

 

2. Genetic engineering.

 

This applies to flaura and fauna of course. SciFi stories about nasty plants have been done, even cloning in The Sixth Day, and probably a deal more. Again there is a moral question.

 

 

3. Animal exploitation.

 

There is a funding body in the USA that refused to back the experiments because of possible side-effects over which there seemed to be a lack of understanding even by those carrying out the experiments. Apparently, some of the human DNA could develop in other areas of the pig such as the brain which may allow the animals to develop human capabilities. That may explain the picture above from Orwell’s Animal Farm. Could we stand a ruling pig like Napoleon? Let me share a little of the story with you.

 

One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones’ Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals — inspired by his philosophy of Animalism — plot a rebellion against Jones. Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, prove themselves important figures and planners of this dangerous enterprise. When Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall.

 

A politically satire when it was written in 1945 but here we are seventy odd years later contemplating the possibility of a pig with  human characteristics – for real.

 

Sleep well.

 

God Bless