I found this report disturbing, in so far as it appeared to pave the way for Huxley's Brave New World, in which biological engineering and psychotropic drugs are used to determine people's behaviour.-DAVID: Don't worry. Science writers like to pontificate about future results as it heightens the importance of their report. Our mind is independent as consciousness is and should be. It is influenced by psychiatric treatment without drugs. If a democracy is maintained Huxley doesn't work.-Your last comment takes us off in a slightly different direction, but is an important subject in itself. It may be that Huxley's vision can be prevented by a functioning democracy, but we should not be complacent. Already over here and no doubt in USA as well, technology has eroded vast areas of privacy in a manner foreseen by George Orwell in 1984. The "hacking" scandal which is in the process of destroying Rupert Murdoch's empire may be the tip of the iceberg. We know that virtually all our electronic forms of communication can be monitored, and even now we have no idea to what extent we are under surveillance, either by the authorities or by crooks. The present UK government is actually seeking to increase its snooping rights, while at the same time ... just like its predecessors ... defying the Freedom of Information Act on the pretext that revealing the truth about some of its activities and commissioned reports would be against the national interest or would inhibit its advisers from telling them what they really think. Authorities can play with human minds even in a democracy, as is only too obvious from certain thriving religious communities in our own western society ... and I don't just mean Muslim. Genetic engineering has crept into agriculture, and the article you referred us to clearly points to it being used in medicine. And why not, if it cures sickness? But where will the limits be drawn, and by whom? Just how much do we know about the actions of people in power, even in our democracy? Importantly, we have a free press, but that free press can itself be corrupt. Three cheers for The Guardian, but no cheers for The News of the World whose criminal activities it exposed. There you have the two sides of the coin ... good media exposing bad. My point is that our democracy is in the hands of politicians, the media, big business and certain other authorities (e.g. the military, the police), not one of whom can be trusted. And we have not even mentioned the vast areas of the world that are governed by undemocratic regimes! Huxley's vision is not just a warning to the west ... it applies to the human race as a whole. We already have brainwashed people prepared to murder and die for the cause drummed into them. It's only a small step, then, for the authorities to dispense with drumming and to use a scalpel, needle or pill instead.
 
I agree with you that democracy is our best if not our only protection against the sort of power envisaged by writers like Orwell and Huxley. That is why I'm concerned at the manner in which your country's democracy and mine is being increasingly and subversively undermined.

DAVID: Positive review of Shapiro and his new vision of evolution. Cells do know what they are doing. Natural selection takes a back seat.
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> http://www.uncommondescent.com/evolution/from-the-best-schools-seeing-past-darwin-ii-ja... 
> So perhaps the "intelligent cell" idea as not as wacky as it seemed!-Not wacky:-http://jb.asm.org/content/182/11/2993.full-Don't struggle through the whole paper. Click on conclusions tab. Evolution is self-directed by the cells. Darwinists are obviously joining Shapiro

Another example of an extraordinary decision - this time from Japan. Penguin 337, just 2 ft tall, escaped from Tokyo Sea Life Park by scaling a 13 foot wall and squeezing through a barbed wire fence. The bird has been spotted in Tokyo Bay, presumably enjoying its freedom.
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> Imagine the effort required, using flippers to climb a wall 6 times its height, and then avoiding the barbs of the fence. What was going on in No. 337's mind? This, I suggest, is the sort of enterprising, original thinking that not only sets individuals apart from others in their species, but may also help to explain how individual cell communities come up with innovations to counter or exploit environmental conditions. There's a lot of intelligence out there!-Proves flying isn't anything important