Posted on 05/20/2010 10:39:53 AM PDT by mgstarr
Scientists have turned inanimate chemicals into a living organism in an experiment that raises profound questions about the essence of life.
Craig Venter, the US genomics pioneer, announced on Thursday that scientists at his laboratories in Maryland and California had succeeded in their 15-year project to make the world’s first “synthetic cells” – bacteria called Mycoplasma mycoides.
“We have passed through a critical psychological barrier,” Dr Venter told the FT. “It has changed my own thinking, both scientifically and philosophically, about life and how it works.”
The bacteria’s genes were all constructed in the laboratory “from four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesizer, starting with information on a computer,” he said.
The research – published online by the journal Science – was hailed as a landmark by many independent scientists and philosophers.
“Venter is creaking open the most profound door in humanity’s history, potentially peeking into its destiny,” said Julian Savulescu, ethics professor at Oxford University. “This is a step towards ... creation of living beings with capacities and natures that could never have naturally evolved.”
The synthetic bacteria have 14 “watermark sequences” attached to their genome – inert stretches of DNA added to distinguish them from their natural counterparts. They behaved and divided in lab dishes like natural bacteria.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
You could say the same thing about any number of things such as jet aircraft or any type of military equipment for instance. Just because something has the potential to be dangerous, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.
In short, intelligent design.
Don't tell Richard Dawkins.
It’s alive, Master, it’s alive!
Someone needs to post the pic of Marty Feldman as Igor.
For example, if your entire mind could be downloaded into a CPU, and you would retain every thought, every bit of personality, every memory, would you still be 'alive'? (That's what Kurzweil calls 'The Singularity'.) How about an artificial, totally electronic sentience, something that's been beaten to death in SciFi since the beginning. Will that qualify as 'living'? Sentient, yes, but living, no? This question will become quite valid when, not if, we create such an entity.
And I do believe it's just a matter of time. Because the larger part of my thinking makes me sympathize with the 'meat machine' idea. It just makes sense from a standpoint of how this physical universe operates. The transition from electro-mechanical to electro-chemical may just be a matter of scale. And since right now it's beyond our understanding, we attribute a magic quality to it. And maybe there is one. But it has never shown up under a microscope.
Who created the elements?
I don't deny that in the least. It is not, however, as definitive for the cause of secular materialism as many interpreters of this sort of article seem to think.
No, but it does have a fake CoLB fabricated by LorenC of ‘hate Ron Polarik’ fame.
GMO Pharming creates new DNA strands every day, big whoop, they didn’t create anything at all, they used existing parts, what a bunch of dopes, it’s sad too to see so many freepers falling for this kind of junk science tripe ...
Finally, its so interesting to see all the “alarm” but you point out that they are doing this every day in GMO pharming with gene guns mixing animal, plant, and sea life genes into the very food we eat and they think it’s no big deal, this is hilariously funny in so many ways and shows the ignorance of most people.
First, people believe such a nonsense article
Second, they say “Oh this could be dangerous” and the cram whatever GMO food they have in there hand at the moment down the gullet.
Thanks for the laugh everybody, this will last for weeks, very funny
Finally, its so interesting to see all the “alarm” but you point out that they are doing this every day in GMO pharming with gene guns mixing animal, plant, and sea life genes into the very food we eat and they think it’s no big deal, this is hilariously funny in so many ways and shows the ignorance of most people.
First, people believe such a nonsense article
Second, they say “Oh this could be dangerous” and the cram whatever GMO food they have in there hand at the moment down the gullet.
Thanks for the laugh everybody, this will last for weeks, very funny
No, but it does have a fake CoLB...
What an embarrassment to this country.
And just because we can do something doesn't mean we should.
This is an area where it would be wise to be very, very careful. The law of unintended consequences is far more serious when one is playing around with things like bacterial DNA.
Yes, be careful, but do it based on knowledge, not feelings.
You might apply that advice to your own posts, as you're coming across as more than a little Pollyannish.
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Thanks mgstarr.Craig Venter, the US genomics pioneer, announced on Thursday that scientists at his laboratories in Maryland and California had succeeded in their 15-year project to make the world's first "synthetic cells" -- bacteria called Mycoplasma mycoides.Same guy:To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.Scientist Reveals Genome Secret: It's HimWhen scientists at Celera Genomics announced two years ago that they had decoded the human genome, they said the genetic data came from anonymous donors and presented it as a universal human map. But the scientist who led the effort, Dr. J. Craig Venter, now says that the genome decoded was largely his own. Dr. Venter also says that he started taking fat-lowering drugs after analyzing his genes... [M]embers of Celera's scientific advisory board expressed disappointment that Dr. Venter subverted the anonymous selection process that they had approved... Though the five individuals who contributed to Celera's genome are marked by separate codes, Dr. Venter's is recognizable as the largest contribution. He said he had inherited from one parent the variant gene known as apoE4, which is associated with abnormal fat metabolism and the risk of Alzheimer's, and that he was taking fat-lowering drugs to counteract its effects... Dr. Arthur Caplan, a biomedical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, said, "Any genome intended to be a landmark should be kept anonymous. It should be a map of all us, not of one, and I am disappointed if it is linked to a person." |
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Whoops! Thanks wildbill.
I.e. they had to start with yeast or something already containing DNA; there is still no indication of humans creating DNA or anything else capable of forming a basis for life from raw materials.
Now to claim creation, get rid of the 4 bottles, the chemical synthesizer, and lose the information on the computer. Let's see it happen again.
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