Topic: Crispr

The discussion turns to modern genetic technologies like CRISPR and mRNA, which the hosts link to the legacy of Madison Grant and Joseph Mengele. A clip of Bill Gates discusses using "reproductive health tools" to moderate population growth by 2050. Yuval Noah Harari is featured claiming that humans are now "hackable animals" and that the era of free will is over.

The discussion shifts to the future of the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on gene editing and CRISPR technology. The hosts argue that services like 23andMe have "normalized" the idea of genetic tracking. They recall past industry discussions about developing vaccines for non-infectious issues, such as cocaine addiction or smoking, as a way to sell medical products to healthy people.

Tyler Perry expresses concern over the "Warp Speed" initiative due to his distrust of the Trump administration, yet he embraces the same technology under Joe Biden. The hosts play a clip of Bill Gates discussing how CRISPR technology allows for vaccine turnaround times to be reduced from years to months. They also note Gates' use of the term "variants," a word that has replaced "strains" in the COVID-19 lexicon.

Biologist Anthony James and his team used CRISPR to create "gene drives" in mosquitoes that ensure specific traits, like malaria resistance, are passed to 100% of offspring. This violates the standard laws of Mendelian genetics. The hosts discuss the 2020 release of 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida and the "scary science" of altering an entire species without knowing the long-term consequences.

CRISPR technology is identified as a significant global threat due to its ability to modify DNA with relatively accessible tools. The segment notes that bioengineering can now be performed on home computers using open-source code. Recent releases of hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes are cited as a troubling application of this gene-editing technology.