Soma from a Helix
"The research represents the first time that depression has been eliminated genetically in any organism, said Guy Debonnel, a psychiatrist and professor at McGill University."
This raises a couple of questions . . . if depression can be controlled through genetic manipulation, through the suppression of a specific gene, then I wonder what evolutionary purpose such a gene would serve through natural selection. In other words, does depression have some value for it to survive genetically? I also wonder if the frequency of depression in a population could be considered some sort of indicator for the health of the society as a whole.
I think the behavioral tests for the mice are a little weak, and there's no certainty that such results apply to humans, but the study is an interesting find nonetheless. Assuming for a moment that such results could be applicable to humans, would eliminating depression necessarily be a good thing? Perhaps . . . but I may have read too many dystopian accounts of artificially induced happiness to be completely at ease with the idea.
This raises a couple of questions . . . if depression can be controlled through genetic manipulation, through the suppression of a specific gene, then I wonder what evolutionary purpose such a gene would serve through natural selection. In other words, does depression have some value for it to survive genetically? I also wonder if the frequency of depression in a population could be considered some sort of indicator for the health of the society as a whole.
I think the behavioral tests for the mice are a little weak, and there's no certainty that such results apply to humans, but the study is an interesting find nonetheless. Assuming for a moment that such results could be applicable to humans, would eliminating depression necessarily be a good thing? Perhaps . . . but I may have read too many dystopian accounts of artificially induced happiness to be completely at ease with the idea.