Wirt Atmar wrote:
>
> Tom writes:
>
> > And that is the pattern throughout the book with
> >  various
> >  fell races.  Would be the same for us, as we go about "improving" things
> > around
> >  us and
> >  ourselves genetically.  Eventually, we will discover that things were best
> > left
> >  as they were.
>
> Tom's comment would be absolutely true -- if it weren't for the fact that
> virtually everything we eat and wear that's organically grown has already
> been massively genetically modified.
>
> Every form of grass that you eat or drink (wheat, barley, oats, rice,
> sorghum, corn, etc.) is so different from its original, fresh-out-of-the-box,
> as-God-made-it form that most people would never recognize the original
> varieties as the same plant -- or even find them very palatable.
>
<snip>

I guess I should rephrase what I said.  I agree with Wirt that selective
breeding has always been done and that direct manipulation just brings
this to a new and even logical level.  I'm not sure that all the
breeding we have done, or for that matter, attempts to introduce animals
and plants in areas where they didn't originate, have always been so
successful.  There is a fine balance in nature we have yet to fully
grasp.  In my example from the Lord of the Rings, Morgoth and Sauron
fully believed they were doing the best thing possible and improving
on God's creation.  I think that Tolkien was presenting the obvious
contrast of orcs and trolls partly as a warning.  The contrasts or the
consequences won't be so obvious to us.
        Tom Hula
        Victor S. Barnes Company
        616.361.7351  x173