We have all been subjected to seeing, hearing, and witnessing super entities colliding with one another. Famous brands such as Marvel and DC Comics, for example, showcase two or more superpowers going head to head against one another for control of a city, chemical, object, the list goes on and on. In current times, more realistic examples include the fighting between two superpower nations, such as the United States and Russia during the Cold War, The Allied Forces against the Axis Powers during the First and Second World Wars. From a scientific community standpoint, none of these examples can quite compare to the collision between the two "superpowers" of the genetic war of their time.
James Watson and Craig Venter were both well respected men within the genetic field. James Watson, as I would hope everyone knows by this time, is widely known for his contribution to discovering the double-helix nature of DNA, among other things. Craig Venter was only a worker at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and was just a small helper to the Human Genome Project at the projects time of infancy. Venter continued his work at at NINDS, while also working on his own method of sequencing genetic information. His method, which called for a fast-paced, "sooner rather than later" approach, was widely rejected by his fellow colleagues, stating the higher risk of mistake and the assumed increase in cost for all the work that needed to be put into this. Relating this back to the clash of the megaminds, one of the colleagues that did not accept this method of Venters, was Watson, who happened to be one of the people who started the Human Genome Project! They both battled head on, each determined to defeat the other in a game of mental strength and superiority. And at the end of the day, after all the dust settled, it was neither one of them who was left standing victorious. Although Watson had more control over what decisions would be made in regards to the Human Genome Project, Venter used that weakness of his to not only leave the project as a whole, but to start his own project, which (with the use of HIS idea) would trump Watsons entirely.
The way I see it, Watson and all of the Human Genome workers should have listened to Venter from the beginning. Not halfway, not after a while, but once he proved to them that his technique WORKED. A lot of time, money and effort was wasted by constant arguments, disagreements, and conflicts. And if it weren't for the two men and their respective projects coming together to complete the Genome, it would have probably been delayed for years, much further than what their planned date of completion. And you wonder why groups like the Justice League and the Avengers form. Teamwork among superpowers ALWAYS brings greater good!
The way I see it, Watson and all of the Human Genome workers should have listened to Venter from the beginning. Not halfway, not after a while, but once he proved to them that his technique WORKED. A lot of time, money and effort was wasted by constant arguments, disagreements, and conflicts. And if it weren't for the two men and their respective projects coming together to complete the Genome, it would have probably been delayed for years, much further than what their planned date of completion. And you wonder why groups like the Justice League and the Avengers form. Teamwork among superpowers ALWAYS brings greater good!
It's interesting how the ego of such smart scientists, who are essentially geniuses of our time, could cause them to overlook the possibilities of working together, to reach an end goal. The entire process of sequencing the human genome could have been truncated tremendously if the scientists in the field had put aside their stubbornness and open themselves up to things they were unsure of at the time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you that the collaboration between Celera and the public program should have happened at the beginning of the Celera's research. Once the public program switched to the faster system of sequencing there shouldn't have even been a doubt as to whether or not the two heads should have come together. While Collins and Venter were fighting over their egos, people were dying from diseases that could have been diagnosed through their genome.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of instances, especially in comics, where two different heroes join forces to accomplish their mission, to overpower the villain. I completely agree with you that if Watson actually listened and thought about the amount of lives that Venter's method could save rather than thinking about his own needs, the sequencing of the human genome would be more accurate and complete in a much shorter time. Venter, Collins and Watson were all too wrapped up in saving and boosting their egos that they tended to lose sight over what really mattered: decoding the humane genome to help save the lives of many people.
ReplyDelete