The headlines about de-extinction are everywhere these days—from dire wolf pups to the coming woolly mammoths. But the idea was just a science fiction story fifteen years ago, before a serious field-building effort helped make it real.
There’s a bigger, more important story surrounding the science, too: how these new genetic rescue tools can be used for endangered species conservation right now.
Ryan Phelan was there at the beginning, part of the team that gave rise to the idea and the organization, Revive & Restore. Now more than a decade into the pioneering effort, Phelan has become the field-building archetype that others emulate and study. She’s showing us all how it’s done.
Key ideas:
Find the people who will egg you on (in a good way). It takes a special combination of personalities to bring a new field into being. The ideal dynamic is a group of people who can “push and pull” and bring out the best in each other’s ideas. Stewart Brand, George Church, and others were good complements to Phelan in the early days of de-extinction discussion.
Phelan outlines her perfect workshop formula. No one organizes a more productive workshop than Phelan. Years of scientific discussion and progress happen over a few focused days. I’ve seen her events firsthand—they work. Every field builder should be copying Phelan’s playbook.
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