Reading a newspaper, as I found lately, is a great thing. I read a lot of internet articles, but reading local newspapers will make you more connected to your community and will show you the differences between the world and your country.
Anyways, I was reading today at al-Ghad that Qatar has banned a toy called Gen-pets and had sent letters of warning to all of the Arabic countries to tell them about this toy and to ban it. See the article here.
I totally agree with the ban of such a thing. But what I want to say is that they really fall for the lie that they eat, breath and cry, and not only that, but they fall for the lie that these are real living pets that were genetically engineered and consist of animals and humans genes, and that they have cardiovascular and skeletal systems.
They also started saying that Islam ban such a thing, again making Islam looking like the weak party that tries to ban anything that WE THINK might violate Islam and Christianity and make them look like they are the barriers in the way of technological advancement. And they started also mentioning the bad effects of such a thing on children life… bla bla bla.
I really appreciate that, but would you please take a moment to make sure about the reality of this thing? Apparently everything that they based their article on was just a copy paste from what is found on the site of this company. See the site here. But is this enough? I mean people in Jordan believe what ever is said to them, they once believed that Saddam was on the moon, so they just believe everything and for some people this will double their doubts in Allah and religions.
I saw the site, and I can tell you the site, unaware of it, had posted a link that shows they are lying. Just a little proof won’t hurt; they say the company is a Canadian company. In their site in the third tab that is called “meet”. In this page they try to tell you about the process used to create these little guys and provide links to the national geographic site. The third link is related to an article that is called “Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy”. The following paragraph is quoted from the second page of this article:
“Last year Canada passed the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which bans chimeras. Specifically, it prohibits transferring a nonhuman cell into a human embryo and putting human cells into a nonhuman embryo”.
And this ban is for stem cells researches where such creatures are destroyed at very early stages of their embryological form of life. So do you think they will allow mass production of such things for commercial purposes?
I would really recommend you to read the catalogue at the stupid company site. They claim that life has always been far away from balance and perfection until the human race emerged and hence then, life started to reach perfection. OMG!!! And they claim they are bioengineers? They also say that they want to market life as a commercial product and they believe that life is the same as the electric toaster that you have at kitchen and the game boy.
I really recommend you to read their site and the catalogue if you are up to some fun, and I promise you to laugh your guts out.
Man, This is SCARY. i read the post here first, so i thought it is one of the stupid bans, and i was surprised that you approve it, but when i saw the site, it looks scary. maybe u should add a picture here to see how weird it looks.
the newspaper article was worded in a way to show maximum disgust and to try to trigger “faith” in people’s heart which can have a inverse effect in people on the edge of faith. The article had several wrong informations, like red means aggressive while in the site means energitic.
I am with you about approving the ban, and apparenlty till now all the countries are banning it. they said they are waiting for approval till now and only the company’s emplyees tried the pet as beta testing.
It is true that in their sit they are really proud of themselves and they did say qouting from the catalog pdf file from there site “Nature to us, is nothing more than inspiration for rough parts. We have picked out the best of everything to create absolute perfection.”
For clarifaction on the product itself: it is a LIVING bioengineered animal that BREATH, EAT, LIVE …etc. Before it is sold, the being is put to a comma (hibernation) and PACKGED in a plastic packages for display. It is sold as a pet, not as a toy, but to make it easier for parents to get it, they make it eat less, poop almost never, barely can make a sound and moves just as much as an infant can move.
see the site, the creature is SCARY
okok, sorry for this, apparenlty this is A HOAX, check this wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genpet
IT IS A ROBOT, NOT A LIVING CREATURE. i apologize for my previous comment, but i really went through their site intensevely and it looked legitimate.
hehehehe! nvrmind man! I actually said it was a lie and I saw the little creatures! when I said I agree with the ban, I ment that if it was true then it must be banned! then I started showing that it is a lie! the topic is “Gen-pets! What a lie!”
would you please post a picture of them in this thread? I can not for some reason, and I think you have an admin account so you can do it!
See what really hurt me is that people are already talking about it as a truth here in Jordan! I will send Al-Gahd newspaper a letter to tell them about it! This is the biggest lie every! and it make it worset is that they made no invistigations about the subject, just copy paste and yea tried to trigger the faith in people!
They are a reputable newspaper and they should account for such a mistake!
I am totally agree with you about the newspaper thing, apparently not just people believes anything, the media itself believs anything as well.
anyway see this site of the creator of those sculoptures
http://www.brandejs.ca/portfolio/Genpets/What
he says he did that to INVOKE the question of such things in the future. he didn’t make it as a joke, he wanted people to actually think whether these kind of things should be allowed or not. anad apaprenlty they did show this in some shops in Toronto to see the reaction of the people. it is an important question he is suggesting and i think we will have to deal with it soon.
qouting from the artist
“Genpets seem to create a reaction wherever they go. While in the store window of Iodine Toronto, the shop owner began sleeping in the store as many nights, people would bang at the windows furiously. Some in protest of the small bio-genetically engineered creatures trapped in plastic, some wanting to wake them up or buy them. Hordes of teens wanting a bioengineered pet met confused, baffled, or even shocked looks from parents. For an upcoming generation, through our own marketing techniques, life and the idea of life are quickly becoming viewed as disposable commodities.”
“To dismiss Genpets as a ‘hoax’ would be to completely miss the point. The spirit of art is to create an illusion. Genpets is designed ‘as is’ to help the viewer ponder the idea a bit longer. ”
FOCUS on the last sentence, it sums what he was trying to do.
and yuri, please DO send alghad a letter, i think such feedback is vital to the improvemnt of our country.
Just sent the msg! I am expecting a reply soon 2nsha2 Allah!
S3d thanx for the pic and thanx for the CV of the guy! I was about to update my blog with it! you helped me to prove it is a lie!
To say the truth, I used to fall for such things in the past and that is why I started to doubt everything! after all Allah told us not to fall for a lie without making sure of it! But humans are humans and we always will fall for it 😉
I feel ashamed i fell for it. I read ur post, but didn’t understand it completely, so i focused on the links you gave me, and the site is made really well. to be hoesnt, there was another april’s fool i was this close to fall for it, and it was FROM GOOGLE. check this site
http://www.google.com/tisp/
the way i discovered it is a hoax mainly by my research colleague, i showed it to him, and he was disgusted, but then he googled it and we found the wikipedia page.
i thought reading the site thoroughly is enough, i didn’t expect a full pledged sites for a hoax.
See the tisp thing, it is funny, i received by email so i had to check it out.
I know this one and I almost fall for it one year ago =) but I discovered it was a hoax from the part where they said that ur sewer condition will affect the internet speed! hehehehehehehehe! dude that is funny!
I was just trying to tell you that it is easy to fell for such a thing! it is not shamful at all! we are human after all!
I thoguht it might be a true doll that was made to look like a living one! But u proved it to be totally a lie! that guy is quit smart and yea you won’t believe that such a site and the dolls were totally hoax!
anyways this show u how people fell easily for scams!
hey yuri, actually I was fully aware the article made reference to a contradicition. there’s a lot of clues hidden in the site that make it clear it’s not real. thanks for the write up and cheers!
Adam, man, if u are the real gene pet guy then u are welcomed, and if u are not, then u are welcomed too =)
Dude u showed how stupid people are! In the middle east there has been Parliament decisions to ban ur toy in! Heheheheh! But I admit it, ur site is so legitimate that I had troubles speaking my mind =) I wish I can translate the apology issued by the stupid newspaper that spread it as a real thing!
Wish u good luck in ur job and wish to see more of ur creative work =)