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Researchers One Step Closer To Creating Life

Posted January 13, 2009 8:05 AM

From Slashdot:

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute are potentially one step closer to creating life. In an experiment they recently created enzymes that can replicate and evolve. 'It kind of blew me away,' said team member Tracey Lincoln of the Scripps Research Institute, who is working on her Ph.D. 'What we have is non-living, but we've been able to show that it has some life-like properties, and that was extremely interesting.'

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Anonymous Poster
#1

Re: Researchers One Step Closer To Creating Life

01/13/2009 1:01 PM

Chemistry is not my field, but this seems interesting.

Already I can see the religious warriors on the horizon, sharpening their arguments for battle. If these experiments ever succeed in producing life, it may drive some into a frenzied war on science.

How long before I can custom-order a creature that can track, stalk and dispose of telemarketers?

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#2
In reply to #1

Re: Researchers One Step Closer To Creating Life

01/14/2009 7:12 AM

I am a catholic, but I do not see any problem that man will be able to create life.

As soon as the Man arrives to arrange matter and energy in the same way they are in a living being, that will be a fact.

The problem is that some religious people have said that life is only created directly by God, what God never said. The Bible says God created the man with his hands, etc. what is a wonderful description of the religious writer, not to be taken literally.

Even more, Man could create an artificial man, cloned or not, who will be a true man if has the whole "specification" of a human being. Another thing is the use men could do of cloning or creating human beings.

Two identical human clones, will be genetically identical, but separate different persons. Remember the philosophical principle of the identity of the indiscernible.

Many of the apparent problems of science with religion are originated by religious people saying things that they have invented.

For instance, antiabortion issues have nothing to do with religion, it is a scientific issue to investigate whether the fetus is a human being or not. If it is an early human being, abortion is killing a human being.

We always try to make God alike a human being, but infinitely good, wise, etc. I think God is not what we say he is.

I am who I am, said God, is written in the Bible.

Maybe it seems that I am a little heretic. Galileo was heretic, but not anymore.

I do not wish to take your time, there are so many interesting discussions about religion and science.

Best regards,

Arturo

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#3

Re: Researchers One Step Closer To Creating Life

01/14/2009 2:56 PM

Creating self-replicating molecules is a step toward, but a looonng way from creating a living organism. And even the creation of a living cell analog does not mean that we will have created a precursor to a human being.

Suppose we COULD create people - why would we want to? The old-fashioned method works well, and is a darn sight cheaper than a laboratory method would be. Not much point to creating cattle, we can raise them cheaper. Not much use for better lions, or resurrected T. rex, we don't really need them around. It would make more sense to create novel organisms for special purposes. Maybe high-IQ macaques that are resistant to gamma radiation and trainable for refueling reactors?

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