This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Removed following from main page:
"* The regular stock breeding also works by Lego principle.
- That's not so much LEGO Genetics as it is a question of strengthening already existing traits by using the best of a stock. Such breeding uses carefully selected ova and spermatozoids, that have the sought-after genes, in in vitro fertilization or even artificial insemination. It is more a sort of "directed evolution" (I use the term loosely) than it is lego genetics since it does not involve writing in characteristics that were not present in the stock to begin with. For example if a certain type of cow produces more milk, the ova from that cow would be used to ensure the offspring keep producing large quantities of milk, rather than, say, splice eagle DNA into the cow to make it fly around, which is what this trope is really about."
As the second poster points out, this is not Lego Genetics! Arguably, though, the fact that the original poster thought it was is an example of (belief in) Lego Genetics in action.
From YKTTW
- Bio Shock has "plasmids", genetic upgrades that instantly give you fantastic abilities like telekinesis or the ability to shoot fire, lightning or ice from your hands. Hand Waved by advanced scientific research into creating stem cells, but even that doesn't begin to explain it.
Nezumi: Actually, to be fair, it's a bit more than that. ADAM uses hyper-versatile stem cells from a previously-unknown form of sea slug to rebuild the body to the specified genotype. It's still a stretch — it'd be time-consuming, painful (like gangrene that didn't have the courtesy to kill off the nerve endings and leave them dead so you couldn't feel your cells and tissues dying and decaying), and might kill the user as their old cellular structure is killed and replaced, along the sheer issue of scientific plausibility, and that's just for starters — but it's a bit better than they make it sound, and for once, they actually do acknowledge that Genes Don't Work That Way.
Houdini: I recall a computer game I played as a kid that had this concept as the main goal... aliens or scientists or whatnot would put three animals together, two hippos and a crocodile for argument's sake. You needed two of the same kind of part together for that trait to carry on to the children. You received all manner of mixed up animals and the goal was to breed the animals back to their normal states. I cannot, cannot, CANNOT recall the name and it is bugging the crap out of me now.
