The idea that you shouldn't "play god" is a strange one.

All sorts of things we do today our ancient ancestors would have considered within the purview of gods: lighters, cellphones, airplanes, cameras, electricity, oral contraceptives, chemotherapy. It seems like yesterday's playing god is today's common sense.

Right now people might say it's "playing god" to bring dinosaurs back from the dead. But in 300 years the technology to bring back dinosaurs might be as prosaic as pasteurizing milk. Does it stop becoming "playing god" when it's well understood? Why am I allowed to fly in an airplane but not bring back dinosaurs?

I get that hubris is bad—we should not think we understand complex systems before we do. There are dangers there.

But "be careful with the unintended consequences of technology you don't understand" makes way more sense than "don't play god." One says "beware unintended consequences," the other says, "don't try to make technological progress."

We should play god. We should just do it responsibly.