Page 1 of 2
"Playing God"
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 09:38
by smiscandlon
No, it's not a new computer game.
Yahoo News wrote:Scientist to create artificial life
Scientists are on the verge of creating the world's first artificial life form, it has been reported.
Craig Venter, a DNA researcher, has built an entirely synthetic chromosome - a sequence of genes - and plans to implant it in an existing cell.
If he succeeds he and his team will have created an almost entirely new life form for the first time.
Researchers hope the discovery will lead to developments in bio-engineering to help tackle climate change, or provide alternative energy sources.
It will also provoke widespread debate about the ethics of "playing God" by creating new species.
Mr Venter told The Guardian newspaper that creating the new life form 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," he said.
Mr Venter's team is the first to create an artificial chromosome. It is 381 genes long and has been named Mycoplasma laboratorium.
The scientists hope to implant it in to the cell of another bacterium to create the artificial life.
The resulting bacterium will rely on the molecules of the host cell to reproduce, but will otherwise be entirely artificial.
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 09:55
by Pista
Catchy name.
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 10:02
by Almiche V
What's it got to do with climate change and energy sources???????
And climate change is natural anyway.
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 10:22
by itnAklipse
This is stupid. And anyone with an iq of about 100 would be able to figure out not good, but to idiots they will be able to sell it with idiotic lines like it will help with climate change!
And i agree with Almiche V.
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 10:45
by christophe
I don't see the harm in what they are doing now, maybe it could lead to roads that we don't want to take.
but is it not best to try and understand these things? and the only way to do so is to push further with this kind of research.
Besides, the whole ‘playing God’ title might be suited on a theoretical level but in fact it is nothing more than very advanced crossbreeding.
It brings up a different question, ‘What is life?’
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 11:06
by lazarus corporation
Sounds fine to me - although I do agree that their claims of potential future applications are completely unsupported.
Just because, after years & years of additional research, this science may lead to us being able to do something unethical doesn't mean we should not use it to do good stuff, as with all scientific advances.
"Playing God"? Yes, there should be ethical restraints on scientific research, but what on earth has that got to do with a mythical deity?
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 11:26
by christophe
lazarus corporation wrote:"Playing God"? Yes, there should be ethical restraints on scientific research, but what on earth has that got to do with a mythical deity?
could not agree more
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 11:31
by weebleswobble
will it be fat free?
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 11:41
by mh
I don't mind it - scientific progress in all areas is inevitable, and if we can get this right it's quite an achievement for humanity to be proud of.
Trouble is we've screwed up so many things in the past. I can just see some egghead in the Pentagon thinking "genetic weapons... hmmm".
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 12:20
by robertzombie
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 14:26
by Izzy HaveMercy
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 14:41
by boudicca
Almiche V wrote:What's it got to do with climate change and energy sources???????
And climate change is natural anyway.
I could be wrong, but I think that refers to the farting cows who are apparently "responsible" for a large amount of the noxious gases that are being released into our atmosphere
... I heard something about some scientists wanting to tinker with their guts... Heaven forbid that we should solve that one by just cutting our consumption of meat farmed on an industrial scale, so there wouldn't be such an enormous number of flatulent farm animals in the first place
Regarding this "advance" in itself - I tend to see these things as inherently neutral, they can in theory be used for benign, even helpful things. They could also begin any number of slippery slopes when placed in the hands of short-sighted human beings.
Playing God doesn't come into it as far as I'm concerned - man versus nature is a nonexistent battle IMHO, we are part of it.
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 15:28
by nowayjose
We should work towards getting rid of our animal bodies instead of creating new "improved" ones...
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 15:32
by 6FeetOver
I hear that...I fantasize constantly about getting rid of my meat carcass and uploading my consciousness into the 'net...
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 15:40
by stefan moermans
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 15:42
by 6FeetOver
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 15:44
by stefan moermans
in contrary to the izzmaster
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 15:57
by 6FeetOver
stefan moermans wrote:
in contrary to the izzmaster
...and me...
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 16:02
by stefan moermans
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 16:04
by 6FeetOver
Uhhhhhh...
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 16:20
by nick the stripper
If it's OK for God to do it, then it must be for us too. He is a supremely good being who does nothing wrong, after all.
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 16:35
by Carpathian Psychonaut
Excellent! I want me a dog-headed herring as a pet for while I'm living in my house made of strawberry flavoured bricks.
{the above line is partly in jest but partly true in view of the possible things that could come to pass}
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 16:39
by Izzy HaveMercy
Carpathian Psychonaut wrote:Excellent! I want me a dog-headed herring as a pet for while I'm living in my house made of strawberry flavoured bricks.
{the above line is partly in jest but partly true in view of the possible things that could come to pass}
There's already a monkey-headed ass running the White House, and you can buy strawberry-flavoured candles.
Almost there.
IZ.
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 16:50
by stefan moermans
Posted: 06 Oct 2007, 16:59
by 6FeetOver
