I Am Creating Artificial Life!

[Lounge Daddy]

Reported by The Guardian, this is a U.S. scientist who may announce soon... [[url="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/06/genetics.climatechange"]FULL ARTICLE[/url]]

[quote]Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.

The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming.

Mr Venter told the Guardian he thought this landmark would be "a very important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before".

The Guardian can reveal that a team of 20 top scientists assembled by Mr Venter, led by the Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, has already constructed a synthetic chromosome, a feat of virtuoso bio-engineering never previously achieved. Using lab-made chemicals, they have painstakingly stitched together a chromosome that is 381 genes long and contains 580,000 base pairs of genetic code.

The DNA sequence is based on the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium which the team pared down to the bare essentials needed to support life, removing a fifth of its genetic make-up. The wholly synthetically reconstructed chromosome, which the team have christened Mycoplasma laboratorium, has been watermarked with inks for easy recognition.

It is then transplanted into a living bacterial cell and in the final stage of the process it is expected to take control of the cell and in effect become a new life form. The team of scientists has already successfully transplanted the genome of one type of bacterium into the cell of another, effectively changing the cell's species. Mr Venter said he was "100% confident" the same technique would work for the artificially created chromosome.

The new life form will depend for its ability to replicate itself and metabolise on the molecular machinery of the cell into which it has been injected, and in that sense it will not be a wholly synthetic life form. However, its DNA will be artificial, and it is the DNA that controls the cell and is credited with being the building block of life.[/quote]

Catch the bit about the new fully-artificial life form somehow solving global warming? Global warming "religion" indeed.

[Farsight one]

*sigh*. Does anyone ever stop to think about the consequences of doing this? Perhaps this new life form will work like a virus. Can anyone else imagine what would happen if a virus was unleashed on the earth that mutated as rapidly as the cold virus, but was as deadly as ebola? We'd be talking about extinction of the human race here. "Progress" my butt...

[ironmonk]

[quote]could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming[/quote]

What nimrods... and men [i]could [/i]evolve purple wings tomorrow and fly.

[quote]Mr Venter said he was "100% confident" the same technique would work for the artificially created chromosome.[/quote]

So far he's been playing Frankinstein with simple lifeforms... I do not believe he'll be able to create a real lifeform.

Edited October 6, 2007 by ironmonk

[Starets]

of course they dont think of the possible consequenses. Mark Shea likes to say that there are two stages to human history:
1. What could it hurt?
2. How were we to know?

[Dreamweaver]

Hey! I love Craig Venter. If you ever learn about the human genome project, you'll learn to appreciate him. He has done some weirder stuff lately though.

This story reminds me of a bad joke my dad told me. A bunch of scientists go calling up God, telling him, "Hey, we don't need you anymore, we found out how to make life ourselves." God replies, "Really? Let me see". The scientists then take a ball of dirt to start their project. God angrily wags his finger at them and says "Ah ah ah, use your own dirt!"

[Brother Adam]

[quote name='Farsight one' post='1398175' date='Oct 6 2007, 12:29 AM']*sigh*. Does anyone ever stop to think about the consequences of doing this? Perhaps this new life form will work like a virus.[/quote]

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/38/Residentevil1_origbox_lg.jpg/200px-Residentevil1_origbox_lg.jpg[/img]

[Pontifite 7 of 10]

[quote name='Dreamweaver' post='1398187' date='Oct 5 2007, 10:06 PM']Hey! I love Craig Venter. If you ever learn about the human genome project, you'll learn to appreciate him. He has done some weirder stuff lately though.

This story reminds me of a bad joke my dad told me. A bunch of scientists go calling up God, telling him, "Hey, we don't need you anymore, we found out how to make life ourselves." God replies, "Really? Let me see". The scientists then take a ball of dirt to start their project. God angrily wags his finger at them and says "Ah ah ah, use your own dirt!"[/quote]
That is possible one of the cleaverest joke I've ever heard
It made me feel better after the thought of a virus.

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='Farsight one' post='1398175' date='Oct 5 2007, 09:29 PM']*sigh*. Does anyone ever stop to think about the consequences of doing this? Perhaps this new life form will work like a virus. Can anyone else imagine what would happen if a virus was unleashed on the earth that mutated as rapidly as the cold virus, but was as deadly as ebola? We'd be talking about extinction of the human race here. "Progress" my butt...[/quote]
Yeah, I was sorta thinking that afterward. What went through my mind was "umm... I hope they keep that thing contained... seriously... no mistakes or we're all dead". Second thing that comes to mind is we might have to burn down the facility if they break the petri dish...

[quote name='Staretz' post='1398182' date='Oct 5 2007, 09:49 PM']of course they dont think of the possible consequenses. Mark Shea likes to say that there are two stages to human history:
1. What could it hurt?
2. How were we to know?[/quote]
too true

[quote name='Dreamweaver' post='1398187' date='Oct 5 2007, 10:06 PM']Hey! I love Craig Venter. If you ever learn about the human genome project, you'll learn to appreciate him. He has done some weirder stuff lately though.

This story reminds me of a bad joke my dad told me. A bunch of scientists go calling up God, telling him, "Hey, we don't need you anymore, we found out how to make life ourselves." God replies, "Really? Let me see". The scientists then take a ball of dirt to start their project. God angrily wags his finger at them and says "Ah ah ah, use your own dirt!"[/quote]
Ha! My bishop told that story in one of his homilies! It made me laugh a lot. Our bishop always tells jokes.

[Old_Joe]

[quote name='ironmonk' post='1398181' date='Oct 5 2007, 09:49 PM']
What nimrods... and men [i]could [/i]evolve purple wings tomorrow and fly.[/quote]


yeah, maybe a one-eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater...

It seems to me, that the question isn't so much about whether the creation would be alive, but whether or not it would have a soul and be considered human.

[Aloysius]

anything that is alive has a soul. the soul is the animating principal, that which causes something to be alive.

the question with stuff like this is only whether they have a human soul/ whether they have an eternal soul. but when something is alive, it has a soul. there is no distinguishing between 'being alive' and 'having a soul'

[Old_Joe]

[quote name='Aloysius' post='1398264' date='Oct 6 2007, 12:31 AM']anything that is alive has a soul. the soul is the animating principal, that which causes something to be alive.

the question with stuff like this is only whether they have a human soul/ whether they have an eternal soul. but when something is alive, it has a soul. there is no distinguishing between 'being alive' and 'having a soul'[/quote]


What about animals? would they have souls?

[Aloysius]

yes, they have souls, but they do not have eternal souls, they have mortal souls. the main distinction between a human soul and every other type of soul we know to exist in the material world is that human souls are eternal.

plants have souls too, they have plant souls.

soul--anima---animating principal, principal of life.

saying "it is alive" is synonymous with saying "it has a soul"

[curtins]

[quote name='Aloysius' post='1398297' date='Oct 6 2007, 05:44 AM']yes, they have souls, but they do not have eternal souls, they have mortal souls. the main distinction between a human soul and every other type of soul we know to exist in the material world is that human souls are eternal.

plants have souls too, they have plant souls.

soul--anima---animating principal, principal of life.

saying "it is alive" is synonymous with saying "it has a soul"[/quote]


I've heard that philosophy before, I think some french dude figured it out?

Its like, if something has existence, it has some degree of sharing in the life of God, thus it has some spiritual element, that spiritual element increases as you go from inanimate objects to living things ultimately to humans which have immortal souls

[fides quarens intellectum]

hello! hasn't this guy seen X-men?

[Aloysius]

it's really just based on Aristotle and the scholastics, much less specialized than some random french guy, a much more general Christian beleif... it's a rejection of platonic dualism. while I'm sure there was probably some french guy with a complex system which included this idea, this idea is pretty much required by the ancient jewish beleif about souls, it really is the most in line with the judeo-Christian biblical tradition... I just know it as one influenced by the schoastics and thus by Aristotle, but I really think it's something that ought to be held by all Christians; the soul is not some ghost-in-the-machine... it is the principal of life. you don't even have to go so far as saying all things that exist have some immaterial element or principal (not sure if that's true or not, it'd be debateable); it is simply that all things which are alive have something which cause them to be alive, the "animating principal", the "principal of life", the soul.