Are we on the brink of creating artificial life? .....

dailymail.co.uk ^ | 11/27/14 | By JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Are we on the brink of creating artificial life? Scientists digitise the brain of a WORM and place it inside a robot

The OpenWorm global project is making a 'digital' worm

Their project is recreating the neurons and cells in C. elegans It is the simplest organism we know of but has similarities to humans By making a digital worm the team hope to create artificial life They have implanted the digital 'mind' of the worm into a Lego machine In a video it acts and behaves just like the worm would in the real world Next year the team will allow people to download their own digital worm By JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN FOR MAILONLINE

With 100 billion neurons and 37 trillion cells, the human body is simply too complex to be artificially designed by modern computers. But in the quest to create artificial life, what if we started a lot smaller? That’s what team of scientists has done, creating a replica of the simplest form of life we know. The worm Caenorhabditis elegans has just 300 neurons and around 1,000 cells - and now a robot has been created that mimics the actions of this simple organism.

[Dalberg-Acton]

It’s obvious to me the answer is “No”.

[fhayek]

What possibly could go wrong?

[Tax-chick]

No, but obviously the effort is keeping some crazy people off the street, so that’s good ...

[MeshugeMikey]

so they created an artificial democrat.......

[Jim Robinson]

Get your own dirt.

[ClearCase_guy]

+1

[dragonblustar]

[adorno]

It is the simplest organism we know of but has similarities to humans

Obviously, all the traits of a democrat.

There are two kinds of humans: democrats, and all the others with brains bigger than that of worms.

[Nateman]

It all depends on what the definition of life is. If the definition is “Self replicating information” it has already happened. It’s called a computer virus.

[left that other site]

Amen.

[Ghost of SVR4]

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Final-Invention-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/0312622376

Interesting read on AI and its potential impacts (lots of way out there theories, but a quick, neat read)..

[martin_fierro]

[Pollster1]

The brain of a worm and the body of a robot:

Wasn't that done years ago?

[dfwgator]

First thing I thought of.

[GreenHornet]

Scientists digitise the brain of a WORM and place it inside a robot

Well, I knew the Democratic field for 2016 was pretty thin, but I didn't realize they were going this far to find a candidate.

[babygene]

Seems to me it would have to be able to reproduce to be considered life.

Why go for a worm, why not an amoeba? Guess they thought a worm would be more impressive... /Not

[fhayek]

There is a school of thought that the universe itself is a vast computer. At the quantum level, particles sequentially hover between ‘existing’ and ‘not existing’ - setting up a cosmic binary system. “Life”, it is postulated, is a computer virus that has been introduced into the system, creating all sorts of havoc.

[WorkingClassFilth]

There are plenty of robots with the brains of worms crawling atound in Washington, DC. What’s new about that?

[Parmy]

So! We, the scientists, are endeavoring to create artificial life, and at the same time, we, the Godless, are, through abortion and euthanasia, endeavoring to end natural life.