Reality Check - Could we clone Big Boss? The Science of Metal Gear Solid

Actually the accelerated aging in MGS4 was done purposefully. Naomi states that his telemeters were intentionally set short, so that he couldn't be captured alive, and to make sure that he doesn't cause trouble for anyone in the future.

Honestly, I would not be surprised.

@ladies_man_xxx Me, my family, friends or pets aren't extra. You are...

That's what we all think. No one wants to backpedal for some numbers on the other side of the world

@ladies_man_xxx How about creating perfect match organs for transplant surgeries?

I want to see a mammoth in my life, that would be awesome!

Forget cloning Big Boss. What about cloning kojima? He always says he wants to hand over the reins of metal gear, but nobody on his staff seems up to the task, and he always has to go back to it and be the executive producer.

That was a great episode, Cam. Very informative indeed.

The good thing about Metal Gear is that if you're ever stuck for ideas on what to do shows about, you could probably quite happily dine off MG for at least three months.

Cam, I love you dude, but please learn how to say "nuclear". It's breaking my heart…

Step 1). say "new"

Step 2). say "clear"

Step 3). say "new-clear"

Winner.

Another great episode Cam. Props on discussion of mitochondrial DNA. Two interesting thoughts about the whole cloning issue. One is that the mentioned mitochondrial DNA potentially has recognized effects on an individual, including a relatively new recognized disorder of mitochondrial myopathy (likely a group of disorders) which is still poorly understood, and thankfully rare. As a pediatrician in the States I'm seeing more of these kids as awareness increases and look forward to better understanding of the issue. Another issue is looking at the nature of identical twins-starting with identical DNA but then having spontaneous mutations occur during development, the role of other early developmental events whether environmental (lack of oxygen/nutrients in utero), or random malfunction of DNA replication/translation, and as you mentioned, the role of the environment has in nurturing the individual. Very interesting and complicated question. Keep it up man.

Also Snake's premature aging wasn't a side effect of his cloning, it was done on purpose by the scientists who created him.

Les Enfants Terrible actually made three clones: Solid/Liquid/Solidus

Love the episode Cam. I am a Jedi and eternal, just waiting for science to catch up to my clone wars.

So what if the donor egg was from Big Boss' actual mother? That might be weird, but makes you wonder if it would fix the whole mitochondrial dna part.

Its wonderfull to see these great ideas in this game series and how they came up with them a long time ago ... YOU kojima san !!!

the boys from brazil is a good movie on cloning.

Les enfants terribles. It's plural.

@kitmeep

Well, it is rather subjective. To be honest, I really think this episode (and you probably meant episode instead of "show") is the most insightful and prepared. But that's just me. But what bothers me to come here and respond is that you like to speak in the name of everyone in this community. Who are you, anyway? Saying stuff like "this is junk nobody cares about" and "I has (?) no interest in this show" when you're kinda the only one disliking "THIS show"? And?... You speak your mind, and that's cool, but what do you want? More episodes on frame rates and resolution?

@kitmeep @xsonicchaos so you dont care about cloning you care about frame rates?? so you would rather see the show only touch on game specific stuff? like hardware and software and so on?

Reality check - is it possible to run across a wall with a jet pack on you back

Reality check- it is possible to get better resolution if you buy a better graphic card

hmmm i dont know kitmeep seems like they need a new show then because this is about the science portrayed in games not the science we have currently...hence the name lol

I mean if its been done animals its clearly possible on humans, but there are loads of ethical / legal issues surrounding this topic.

HI Cam, great show. I wondered whether you could answer this - Liquid hated Solid in MGS1 for being given the dominant genes whilst He (Liquid) received all the recessive genes. Is that possible when making identical clones? How can you distinguish dominant and recessive genes?

I've got a haunch that human cloning has been attempted and is being attempted at the moment.

We're sentient animals after all, if you can clone animals you can clone humans. Pretty sure there are human clones out there, but maybe not healthy ones. It's just not widespread information due to ethical issues and governments or scientist keep it secret.

meh forget human cloning. Lets just clone cows all the time. Then we all can have endless CLONED BEEF, mmmmmm beeeeeeeeef

MAKE AN EPISODE ABOUT NANOMACHINES PLEASE!!!

Great show as always, on a separate note please convince Johnny to stay on Feedbackula and also is there a specific reason to have the light in the background moving while you are talking?

If anything it makes the Metal Gear science of the game lore sound even more plausible and even somewhat grounded in reality as far as liquid and solid snake being clones go. Great episode cam.

Also btw - I think the whole idea of cloning Big Boss is such a unique part of the Metal Gear plot and lore: the whole notion is ridiculous, even somewhat ignorant. But if I recall correctly it was Zero who initiated it - he loved and admired Big Boss so much, that when Big Boss left him, he had to make another "Naked Snake".

The whole idea of cloning him to make perfect soldiers - while somewhat possible - is still pretty naïve, absurd and desperate:

Big Boss had no super powers, nor perfect DNA - he was a great soldier because of the man he was. Because of the great person he was. There was nothing out of the ordinary in him. You can't clone that.

Just like that there is nothing extraordinary about Solid or Liquid.

People are special for who they are, what they become and their principles and beliefs.

Still.... the attempt is ambitious...

Hey Cam I loved the show. I think cloning humans, while being scary as hell and somewhat un-ethical is very possible. Who knows - we might have clones walking among us (or at least in the nursery).

Anyway Cam - I got a question - you forgot to specify one important thing: Why does cloning fails? why do we estimate that human cloning will fail frequently? Why did animal clones simply died off or age rapidly? and how is it that different from artificial born creatures? (I know the basic differences but still).

So human cell cloning have failed many times, and animals have died off early in life - but why? If our scientific process was precise and successful: is it the human body that self-destruct in order to prevent this "deformity" from happening?

Is it nature itself that fights off against these anomalies? I wonder..

Bonus comment: both Solid and Liquid are not identical twins nor identical clones of Big Boss, their DNA was altered to make them even better at soldiering than Big Boss, or at least Solid was. their DNA also had an accelerated aging gene to ensure they won't live long as a fail safe. the egg donor for Solid was a Japanese lap assistant thus Snake have Japanese mitochondria DNA.

@kitmeep

It seems that you're in the minority, and speaking for other isn't helping your cause. You'd be amazed to know how many gamers are genuinely interested by science. I, for example, have a master degree in physics. Try watching Vsauce, it might spark some curiosity in you.

Snake was designed to age faster though. Sort of like an obsolescence scheme.

This is a great video, thank you so much Cam.

those walkers that sound like cows lol. Metal gear solid 4 was great lol