A long and winding road to marriage equality

Life, all life, obeys a fundamental tenet – the propagation of its genetic material. It is a mandate which shapes the behavior of amoebas and turtles and elephants and all of us.

This is often recognized as two subsidiary goals: survival of the individual and survival of the species.  Over and over again in nature we can see this in action as prey strives to escape predator and predator strives to devour prey – all in a constant battle to survive.  Heroic efforts to produce and feed and nurture offspring are observed in the labor of Emperor penguins and Canada geese and stockbrokers and soccer moms.  Life demands perpetuation and procreation.  It is embedded in our genes, imprinted on our DNA.  This monumental struggle can no more be denied than the urge to draw that next sweet breath of air.

According to Thomas Hobbes, the “life of man (is), solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”  An appropriate description of primitive life, for an aged Neanderthal likely died in his thirties. The survival rate of children was atrocious, with perhaps only one of three surviving past the age of six. Even in the Middle Ages, it was unusual to live past forty-five.  It is only in the last century that human lifespan regularly exceeded 70 years.   The discoveries of antibiotics and vaccines, fresh and waste water treatment, and the science of nutrition are largely responsible for this remarkable advance.

Throughout history, humankind has been preoccupied with the procreation of our species. Evolutionary pressures have established that, at least for humans, a family unit is the preferred method for maximizing both individual and species survival.  Where procreation was the goal, a combination of a pair of adult parents with the resultant offspring offered the greatest opportunity for individual and collective survival.

As humans evolved and looked with wonder upon their world, they invented theories and myths to explain what they saw, and to provide comfort. Native Americans created a Great Spirit, just as the ancient Greeks and Romans described a panoply of gods.

It should not be surprising that as religions developed, the strategies that enhanced individual and species survival were enshrined.  Marriage of man and woman became the basis of social organization, with the primary goal being perpetuation of the species via the survival of offspring.  As human populations grew, this strengthened society and, by rule of numbers, the predominant religions.

But by the modern age, things had changed enormously.  No longer was the day spent almost wholly focused on procuring today’s sustenance.  The survival rate of children is now measured in the high 99^th percentile, a far cry from the disastrous effects of predation and influenza and dysentery of prior ages.  A complex society has evolved to overproduce food, shelter, and clothing to the extent that delivers an almost embarrassing surplus.

Our political and religious structures have continued to recognize the value of the familial unit that contributed mightily to our attainment of this nirvana.  But things have, indeed, changed.  Survival of the individual, while still threatened by carjackers and heart disease and other unpleasant things, is largely guaranteed by our booming economies and generous social programs.  Procreation of the species can be achieved via traditional methods or by a number of sophisticated fertility techniques.  Almost any couple can now bear children, and those who cannot may adopt. The strict imperative of male/female bonding for species propagation has been relaxed by a combination of factors.

The original purpose of marriage, between a man and a woman, has long been fulfilled.  We have survived, we have bloomed, and matured. Religious constraints, created during times of disease and duress, are now free to evolve.

The Supreme Court is correct. There is no longer a justification for denying like-gendered couples the societal benefits of marriage. It does no harm to our specie’s survival and adds to the store of human happiness.

That’s an easy case to argue.

A cult of life

The “baby boomer” generation, when we were young, read tales of World War II, seeming distant to young minds but actually quite proximate. As close as the dreadful events of September 11, 2001, are to the current crop of kids, who view it as history, something which happened before they were born, or before they remember. So was World War II to us.

We read of grinding land wars in Africa and Europe. Of swirling naval battles and island campaigns in the Pacific. We read of the Holocaust, and the unthinkable cruelty of the Nazis to those viewed as “other.” We read of the fate of Allied prisoners imprisoned by harsh Japanese captors. And how seventy years ago this summer, it was all brought to a just and satisfactory conclusion.

There were many tales of heroism, from the small theater of a Marine falling on a hand grenade to save his buddies to the riveting drama of Jimmy Doolittle’s raid on Tokyo. While militarily insignificant, the raid was the first truly good news of the Pacific campaign, that Japan was vulnerable to attack.

But as the war shuddered to its inevitable conclusion, there were disturbing accounts of desperation, of Japanese volunteers who willingly gave up their lives. Waves of kamikaze pilots, nearly 4,000 in number, attacked Allied ships with what amounted to human-guided, flying bombs. Kamikaze, “divine wind,” was a deeply foreign concept to young Western minds.

Perhaps from our foundation as a free country based on individual liberty, and certainly shaped by religion, we believed in the sanctity of human life. We admired heroism, but cheered the hero who survived as much as one who lost his life in an heroic act. The Marine falling on a grenade was deeply respected, but we did not expect thousands to do so. We would rather they would fight, win the battle, prosecute the war, and come home to take jobs and father children and mow the lawn and go to church on Sunday. We did not expect, nor would we admire, mass suicide.

If we had a cult, it was a cult of life. Death would come in God’s time, not ours.

But here we are, seventy years later, after the Japanese kamikaze waves proved ineffective, with a new cult of death.

We are now in a struggle with Islamic extremists, who twist their religion to justify their war on the West and Western values. Al-Qaeda, ISIS (or ISIL ), and Boko Haram are all examples of this theologically twisted philosophy. They share several fundamental features:

• A blind intolerance for other beliefs. Convert or die.
• Patriarchal and cruel. Women have no rights, gays are put to death.
• Regular use of suicide attackers. Your reward is in paradise, not on Earth.
• Unbelievable brutality. Kidnapping, torture, beheading, immolation, the more gruesome the better.
• Worldwide domination as a goal. International operations are underway, with recent attacks in France, Canada, Belgium, Australia, and the United States, among others.

What could be more antithetical to Western beliefs and culture?

And yet, and yet… we dither in the goal of containing a nuclear Iran. We stand by as the ISIL-declared Caliphate grows in Africa. We continue to avert our eyes… the Fort Hood terrorist attack is officially termed “workplace violence,” its victims denied crucial medical benefits. We refuse to openly recognize the Islamic roots of the enemy. A fringe, twisted, extremist Islamic belief system, but one with millions of supporters.

One only hopes that the next president, whoever he or she is, will recognize the existential nature of this struggle. That if we truly believe in the equality of women, gay rights, and the freedom of expression and religion, there is no accommodation that can be made, no moral equivalence that can be argued. It is time that we clearly state what we stand for: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is foundational. It is who we are.

Let’s only hope that January, 2017, is not too late.

Rewriting the language of life

E. Coli bacteria

The familiar, idyllic scenery outside your door, bucolic in the spring sunshine, is exceedingly weird. And so are you.

What seems ordinary to us, an oak tree, daffodil, blade of grass, or your own body, is made of atoms forged in the furnace of early, distant stars. And these atoms are nearly entirely empty space, vacuum, with only a few protons and neutrons and electrons forming actual matter.

That’s right, your body is more than 99.9999% empty space, and the reason you don’t sink through your chair is that the electrostatic charge of the atoms in the chair repels the atoms of your body.

What’s the point? Only that things are often stranger than they seem.

Take living things, for instance. DNA is often called the blueprint of life. Think of DNA as a construction and operation manual that tells a dandelion how to be a dandelion, a whale a whale, or a you to be human. The instructions in your DNA account for your height, hair color, gender and also control the ongoing operation of your body. This is the miracle of life.

So it was a bit of a surprise earlier this month when synthetic biologists at the Scripps Research Institute announced  they had created bacteria containing artificial DNA. A biochemist not involved in the project, Steven Benner of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Florida,  summed up the shocking finding: “Most people thought this wasn’t possible.”

Think of DNA as a kind of computer program. It is information that regulates how amino acids and proteins, the basis of life, are produced. The researchers at Scripps, led by chemical biologist Floyd Romesberg, have found a way to rewrite that program and have created bacteria which live, grow, and reproduce utilizing segments of man-made, artificial DNA. The descendant bacteria also contain the artificial DNA, and pass it on to their successors.

The point of all this is that bacteria can now be programmed to produce a greatly expanded range of amino acids and proteins. Applications range from new cancer drugs to improved vaccines or even anticounterfeiting, improved forensics, and the efficient production of biofuels. The opportunities are mind boggling.

Even before the achievement of artificial DNA, scientists had become quite capable. According to the Wall Street Journal, “With growing mastery, scientists have been tinkering with this natural information-storage system that is found inside every cell. They routinely cut and splice normal DNA to alter plants, bacteria and animals. They have used its ultraminiature storage capacity to encode books, poems and popular music. They even have programmed DNA to perform computer-like calculations.” (Man-Made DNA Opens Doors, 5/8/2014).

But the Scripps accomplishment opens the door to much greater control and specificity. While current gene manipulation relies on repurposing natural DNA, the advent of artificial DNA greatly expands the designer’s pallet. The natural e. coli bacteria used in this experiment can produce 20 amino acids. When augmented with the Scripps artificial DNA, they can create 172 amino acids. Since proteins are built from amino acids, the scope of protein creation is greatly extended.

There are safety concerns. A number of environmental groups had asked that this research be shut down until the safety aspects could be more fully assessed. But a review by the U.S. Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues found no reason to call a halt. Their reasoning was that while the technique added some elements to the language of life, it did not fundamentally change the life process. The Scripps researchers did, however, add a safety feature. Their bacteria were designed to grow only in the presence of a specific chemical additive. In the absence of this additive, the bacteria would stop creating artificial DNA, thereby making escape to the wild highly unlikely.

In the end, whenever we think we have a handle on science, it surprises us. This achievement promises great advances in medical science and many other areas. Perhaps even the holy grail, that being the efficient conversion of carbon dioxide directly into biofuel. What a wonderful outcome, should it come to pass.