Vandana Shiva Quotes

People have freaked out when I tell them that my dragons are scientifically based... what else can you call a genetically engineered life form?

Engineering the biological world was even more interesting than engineering the mechanical world.

Human beings have been manipulating the biological world for thousands of years without understanding how DNA codes function.

Biotech and geo engineering have the same mindset, of engineering, of power, of control, of mastery of nature.

Once we understand just how to control genes, we have the potential for spinal cord regeneration, bone regeneration, and so on. It might also give us plumper chickens.

I mean, we're really making a quantum change in our relationship to the plant world with genetic modification.

Every orchid or rose or lizard or snake is the work of a dedicated and skilled breeder. There are thousands of people, amateurs and professionals, who devote their lives to this business. Now imagine what will happen when the tools of genetic engineering become accessible to these people.

With the advent of genetic engineering the time required for the evolution of new species may literally collapse.

No one really has the guts to say it, but if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn't we?

It's possible that we could change a human gene and double our life span. I don't know if that's true, but we can't rule that out.

Transhumanism is the ethics and science of using things like biological and genetic engineering to transform our bodies and make us a more powerful species.

Our grandkids will lead the lives of the gods of mythology. Zeus could think and move objects around. We'll have that power. Venus had a perfect, timeless body. We'll have that, too. Pegasus was a flying horse. We'll be able to modify life in the future.

I suspect any worries about genetic engineering may be unnecessary. Genetic mutations have always happened naturally, anyway.

I think we're going to move from a Homo sapiens into a Homo evolutis:... a hominid that takes direct and deliberate control over the evolution of his species, her species and other species.

Genetic engineering is a result of science advancement, so I don't think that in itself is bad. If used wisely, genetics can be beneficial, but they can be abused, too.

Right now people are interested in genetic engineering to help the human race. That's a noble cause, and that's where we should be heading. But once we get past that - once we understand what genetic diseases we can deal with - when we start thinking about the future, there's an opportunity to create some new life-forms.

What the public needs to understand is that these new technologies, especially in recombinant DNA technology, allow scientists to bypass biological boundaries altogether.

If any one age really attains, by eugenics and scientific education, the power to make its descendants what it pleases, all men who live after it are the patients of that power.

We've been modifying the biological world at the level of DNA for thousands of years. Somehow there is this new fear of what we already have been doing and that fear has limited our ability to provide real solutions.

Only engineers would do something like random mutagenesis.

I decided that I wanted to become an engineer of the biological world, specifically a protein engineer.

Genetic engineering is having a serious impact on the food we eat, on the environment, and on farmers. To ensure we can maximize benefits and minimize hazards, Congress must provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for all genetically engineered products.

What we're talking about is creating new forms of life on the basis of new values.

World domination is such an ugly phrase. I prefer to call it world optimisation.

If I were 21 years old, I would go into biotechnology or genetic engineering.