Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi were born in Texas, but their story stretches back more than 12,000 years. They’re not myths or simulations or prototypes in a pitch deck. They are real. Living, breathing, healthy pups, engineered from ancient genetic blueprints to bring back an apex predator the world hasn’t seen since the Ice Age.
And if that sentence doesn’t give you goosebumps, let me try again.
We just witnessed the world’s first de-extinction (or so they say).
I’ve known this day would come for a while. I used to be the Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) and later VP of Strategy at Colossal Biosciences, the company behind the announcement. I’ve sat in the rooms where these decisions were debated, shaped, and finally executed. I know the scientists, the storytellers, and the skeptics. I know how hard this actually is - not just the science, but the responsibility of building a future that has never existed before.
So let me be clear upfront: I’m thrilled this moment has arrived. Genuinely. I think it’s an important, symbolic, and deeply hopeful step. But I also think it’s easy for people to get caught up in the headlines without seeing the deeper questions underneath.
And that’s what this week’s essay is for. Not a teardown, not a cheerleading session - just an honest reflection for those of us who care about science, policy, and possibility. I want to talk about what this moment means, what it doesn’t, and why the real question isn’t “Can we bring species back?” but rather:
Where does a mammoth start and an elephant end?
1. The Blurry Line of Becoming
Let’s start with the most obvious misconception: de-extinction is not time travel.
Romulus and Remus are not perfect carbon copies of the dire wolves that once roamed North America. They are, biologically speaking, re-engineered gray wolves. Their genomes have been edited to express key traits identified from ancient DNA: larger size, broader snouts, thicker coats, robust immune profiles. Fourteen specific genes were tweaked. The result? Pups that look and act like dire wolves, but are built on a modern scaffold.
And that’s the beauty of it.
The podcast audio was AI-generated using Google’s NotebookLM.
Because nature doesn’t operate on fixed categories. “Species” isn’t a hard boundary, it’s a fluid continuum of traits, probabilities, and ecological niches. We like tidy labels, but evolution doesn’t care about our taxonomy.
That’s why the question of where a mammoth starts and an elephant ends isn’t rhetorical, it’s deeply practical. If we edit enough genes in an Asian elephant to express mammoth-like traits, is that animal a mammoth? A mammophant? A cold-adapted elephant?
Yes. All of the above. And none of them.
Because biology isn’t just genes. It’s history, behavior, and context. It’s how an organism fits into the ecosystem around it. That makes these new animals something we’ve never had before: real, living beings born from a scientific act of interpretation.
And that’s where the nuance begins.
2. From Lab Bench to Grasslands
I remember sitting in early Colossal strategy meetings, mapping out what success might look like. For some, success meant seeing these creatures walk again. For others, it was about developing tools for endangered species conservation. For others still, it was always about the science itself - the challenge, the innovation, the implications.
What struck me then, and what still excites me now, is how every step toward “de-extinction” strengthens the toolbox for life itself.
CRISPR multiplexing. Ancient DNA reconstruction. Surrogacy models. Bioethics frameworks. These aren’t just flashy experiments, they’re laying the foundation for how we treat genetics as a programmable language.
That language can be used to revive lost traits. It can also be used to fortify endangered species, like the red wolf, which Colossal has also successfully cloned. Or to stabilize fragile populations that no longer have the genetic diversity to thrive in the wild. Or to prepare ecosystems for the effects of climate change, like the eventual reintroduction of cold-adapted keystone herbivores into thawing permafrost landscapes.
We’re not resurrecting the past for nostalgia. We’re applying ancient templates to future problems.
And that’s not science fiction anymore. That’s this week’s news cycle.
3. The NSCEB Report and Timing That Writes Itself
In one of those poetic moments that makes you wonder if the simulation is glitching, the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) released its final report the same week the dire wolf announcement dropped. In fact, one day after.
You couldn’t ask for better timing.
The report is a serious document, one that rightfully emphasizes the strategic importance of biotechnology to national security, economic resilience, and global leadership. And it underscores the urgency of building institutions, frameworks, and talent pipelines to keep pace with the science.
But if the NSCEB report is the formal declaration that biotech is central to our future, the dire wolf pups are the perfect demonstration of why.
Because biotech isn’t about molecules anymore. It’s about meaning.
What does it mean to create life that no longer existed?
What does it mean to engineer identity from scratch?
What does it mean when your product cries, plays, and dreams?
The NSCEB report gives us the tools. The dire wolves give us the stakes.
4. Beyond the Buzzword
Let’s talk about “de-extinction.”
It’s a term that gets tossed around with a lot of flair. But it’s also a bit of a misnomer.
We didn’t undo extinction. We didn’t flip a switch and get the exact same creature back. We built something new. Something inspired by the past, built on the present, and destined for a future that has no precedent.
In other words: this is genetic engineering. It’s just wearing an Ice Age costume.
And that’s not a bad thing.
I don’t think “de-extinction” needs to be perfect to be valuable. But I do think we owe it to ourselves to be honest about what’s really happening here.
This isn’t just about recreating old animals, it’s about pushing the boundary of what life is. What it can be. What it should be.
Because once you can bring back a dire wolf, you can also bring forward a coral species resilient to warming oceans. Or engineer crops that sequester more carbon. Or create entirely new organisms for planetary defense.
That’s the real promise. The power to shape life, responsibly.
5. A Supporter’s Reflection
Some folks might expect me to be skeptical or critical about this moment. But the truth is, I’ve seen the work firsthand. I’ve watched the midnight sequencing marathons. The gut-wrenching ethical debates. The agonizing trade-offs. The trial, error, persistence, and breakthrough.
And I know what it takes to get from theory to pup.
So yeah, I’m proud. Not just of Colossal, but of the broader scientific community that has kept pushing the edges of possibility.
I’m also glad that the narrative around this isn’t just flash and hype. The dire wolf story opens the door for a public conversation about complexity. It invites people to ask, “Wait, what does it mean to be a species?” or “How do we know this is ethical?” or “Where is this all headed?”
That’s good.
We need those questions. They’re how we become responsible stewards of this power.
6. What Defines the Self?
Let me leave you with the hardest question of all.
In this moment, where wolves once extinct now howl in our lifetime, what defines the self?
Is it DNA?
Is it origin?
Is it memory?
Is it purpose?
Because if we can engineer a genome to match a historical template, but raise that creature in a totally new world, what part of it is “true”? What part of it is inherited, and what part is invented?
And if that question feels uncomfortably human…that’s because it is.
This isn’t just about animals. This is about us.
About how we define ourselves in a future where biology is as editable as software. About how we think of identity when the building blocks of life are no longer fixed, but fluid. About how we raise the next generation, engineered or otherwise, with the right combination of wonder and wisdom.
Because the future we’re building doesn’t just belong to science. It belongs to story.
The Next Step
So where does a mammoth start and an elephant end?
I don’t know.
But I do know this: the future will not be divided by species lines. It will be shaped by our capacity to ask the right questions before we start editing the answers.
And if the dire wolf pups remind us of anything, it’s that the past is not dead, it’s programmable.
Welcome to the age of engineered life.
We’ve only just begun.
Cheers,
-Titus
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