[SlowOnTheUptake]

Wouldn't it be better if people debated these topics rationally rather than, you know, worrying about what meaningless rhetoric other might people hear?

Last night I heard an interview with Craig Venter where the interviewer used the term "playing god", or something similar several times to to characterize the arguments she assumed that some others might be making against this research. Venter actually corrected her at one point when she misquoted one of the commenters -- in this case a representative of the Vatican. It sounded to me as though the "playing god" expression was being used more by the proponents of this kind of research rather than the ones raising objections or concerns themselves. I think that the expression was being attributed to people who weren't raising that specious issue in the first place.

Still, I don't know why the expression,"playing god", whatever it might mean,is "dangerous" unless you're concerned that the uneducated masses might be stirred to some undesirable action as a result of hearing it.