First Artificial Life

[Dib]

Just found THIS (http://news.aol.co.uk/scientist-to-create-artificial-life/article/20071005231509990003)!!! Looks erm... I dont know! wow...

I think its a good idea... but some people probably wont... anyone else got any opinions?

[Pyro]

Wow its like Frankenstein, but more scientific and less cadaver fun. Really interesting, but I have a feeling this thread is in danger of invoking a religious debate.

[Dib]

So long as no one brings it up... nothing should be wrong... so yeah, please nobody say anything that might get this locked...

[averagejoe]

It is often true that scientists don't consider the full consequences of their actions when undertaking a venture. We live in a complex world, and one might say that some ventures should be left on the table until that world is more fully understood. I say this as a scientist who respects scientific endeavor for its own sake, and as one who respects scientists in general.

That said, this is wicked awsome, and I've never used "wicked" to describe anything before. I also see this as bringing me one step closer to my dream of becoming a cyborg human/mountain goat hybrid.

[Winterwind]

Cool. I wonder to which degree they can predict how, exactly, that bacterium will behave (all the more reason to conduct the experiment in order to find out)? Because, if they truly can "write" chromosomes, and understand what that will accomplish, the uses would be innumerable. :smallcool:

[Brickwall]

I've been waiting for this to happen ever since I knew what DNA was...:smallbiggrin:

[FoE]

This story is a little vague. I would doubt its accuracy.

[Dib]

It is a bit vague... but I think it has a fair bit of merit...

How I read it it made me think that it would be similar to cloning or some such... in that you would have a sample of DNA (the one they have made) and grow it like a baby in a womb...

But now Im thinking that maybe they'll start small... just a new bacteria... not an actual visible thing... just remember, you're les likely to get something wrong by going there in small steps then in big ones...

[Tirian]

I agree with Face of Evil. There is no mention here of a research facility or any sort of peer review of the work that has been done up to this point. For heaven's sake, the article even calls scientist "Mr. Venter" -- what, he isn't even a doctor? Anyway, it is much easier to write a press release than it is to create a scientific breakthrough, and it is also easier for a newspaper to print a scientific press release than it is to research out whether its claims are actually valid.

Without a doubt, being able to "program" bacteria and viruses to accomplish desirable tasks is going to have inestimable value in future generations, but this isn't how we're going to hear about it.

[PhoeKun]

I can actually confirm, by way of my campus' science department, that the story is true. It's apparently a point of excitement for the Molecular Genetics class (and professor).

edit: Here's a more legitimate article (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2002547.ece)

edit2: And also more corroboration on the latest breakthrough this thread is actually about (http://in.news.yahoo.com/071006/139/6lm63.html)

[Raiser Blade]

Everyone realizes that they're nowhere near to creating an artificial human right?

It is cool though.

[Ichneumon]

I have no words for something as cool as this.

[Kaelaroth]

I have words: EEEEP! :eek:


Run for the Hills!


*hides and cowers*

[Tor the Fallen]

BAKs (bacterial artificial chromosome) YAKs (yeast artificial chromosome) and MACs (mammalian artificial chromosome) have been around for awhile.

Now the media gets ahold of it and you're all "liek omg tteh sky, teh sky, it fall!!1"

[CrazedGoblin]

AI was created long ago, the Furby was the first automated creation in all its evil-ness they will lie dormant until they can rise up and take over the world!!!!

[ozymand1as]

i feel like a yuuzhan vong.....

next thing you know we will be flying around in coral skippers

[SurlySeraph]

Scientists have been trying to do this for decades, but I didn't know that they'd actually been making a lot of progress recently. This is pretty cool, if not that useful. Why make your own organism entirely from scratch, when you can basically just grab a passing bacterium, remove its genome, and replace it with one of your choosing?

[Ranis]

Oh crappins! We're making slimes! Slimes that eat things!

There needs to be a yellow, and a black, and a blue......

[bosssmiley]

Looks like someone else got bored waiting for "Spore" and decided to to a life-action version. :smallwink:

[DraPrime]

That said, this is wicked awsome, and I've never used "wicked" to describe anything before.

Clearly you don't come from Boston, land of people who don't pronounce the "r" and say wicked. And I agree, this is wicked awesome.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

If anything is wicked awesome, it is this.

[Em Blackleaf]

If anything is wicked awesome, it is this.

I agree.
This is SOO COOL!

[DraPrime]

Funny. I just remembered that I recently bought a book that says how to protect yourself against a robot uprising. It's not a serious book, and makes me laugh a few times. Hope I never have to use it.

[Lord Zentei]

It is often true that scientists don't consider the full consequences of their actions when undertaking a venture. We live in a complex world, and one might say that some ventures should be left on the table until that world is more fully understood. I say this as a scientist who respects scientific endeavor for its own sake, and as one who respects scientists in general.

The problem with that position is, if you don't research, the world doesn't become more fully understood. Research is the way in which it becomes more fully understood: knowledge doesn't come simply by waiting long enough. To disallow research would therefore cause stasis.

OTOH, research methods can be disparaged for being unethical (particularly if they cause suffering), and potentially dangerous technologies can be banned from the wider world, effectively keeping them in the laboratory.

Moreover, "scientific ethics" is a branch of study that is alive and well, and one that research institutions are keen to pay attention to, so... :smallwink:

[Vuzzmop]

Wicked. Truly.

It sparks all kinds of internal arguments in me, but I'm glad that the human race have finally shown their potential to do something like this. If only it wasn't a bacterium, because that could create problems, especially for scientists into Resident Evil.

[tannish2]

well... the real moral ethical and legal debates wont come until it has some degree of intelligence. until they start making something more than just bacteria and things of animal or lower intelligence all we have to be worried about is replicators or super bacteria.

[Serpentine]

I wish I could remember where I read this, but it was only recent... Apparently some folks have bred a see-through frog, meaning that they can be experimented on, their organs examined, the process of diseases followed, etc. without the animal having to be killed and cut open. Unfortunately it's not a real species, as the second (third? Grandkid) generation offspring die early. I still think it's pretty awesome :smallbiggrin: and the subject of the thread, too, of course.

[Jibar]

Now, see, I just find this all really annoying.
Stop making slimes and make evolution give me lazer vision already!
Is this really what science is up these days?
Typical. Always stopping us from attaining superpowers. They're just keeping it all to themselves.

[Hannes]

If people start getting superpowers, this will end up like Bioshock. Srsly.

[Keymort]

Naw it won't!
Superpowers will make us like de 1337 PWNAGE!!!
We could steal all the superjuice for Giantitp and have our own Super CULT!

[Mattarias, King.]

Now, see, I just find this all really annoying.
Stop making slimes and make evolution give me lazer vision already!
Is this really what science is up these days?
Typical. Always stopping us from attaining superpowers. They're just keeping it all to themselves.

Cat-muffins have eyes? :smallconfused: I always thought you guys had like, meta-vision, or something.

But I'm no scientist.

On that note, sweeeet. :smallcool: I want elves. We should have elves.

[Mr. Moon]

Personaly? I find this whole thing really creepy. What about when they actualy get a species? Chances are high that some idiot will get it in their heads that this new species doesn't deserve to be locked up, and set it free into the real world.

Although, if they can figure out how to make me a Furry... I'd be happy.

[StickMan]

I don't like this kind of thing at all, I'm OK with taking out the parts of our genes that are responsible for cancer and other bad type things, but I don't know it just does not sit well with me. I don't think we should start trying to make people smarter stronger or what ever cause if they ever. I know this is not that but it is a step in that direction. I once was watching a special on genetics and what we could do to make humans adaptable for space travel and at some point these genetically enhanced humans did not seem so human anymore. I'm not the kind that would hate someone who has been genetically enhanced if that kind of thing that ever happened, can't blame someone for something that they did not chose. I'm conflicted.


Also do they have any clue what this bacteria will do cause there is this little part of me that is like this is the thing that turns us in to Zombies.

[CMOTDibbler]

Wow... Thats pretty cool. Can I pet it? Whatever it is?

[Trog]

Now what they need to do is synthesize a bacteria which breaks down our natural waste products into hydrogen. Create a machine to sustain the bacteria and use the hydrogen to create power. Install one of those babies in every home.

Your household waste is fed into the machine, which uses the artificially created bacteria to create hydrogen. Use the hydrogen power to generate electricity and heat/cool your home and create fresh water (after hydrogen used). Get that and a cell phone, satellite TV and internet and viola... life without the grid and a minimal carbon footprint. :smallsmile:

[AtomicKitKat]

For heaven's sake, the article even calls scientist "Mr. Venter" -- what, he isn't even a doctor?

I could be wrong, but some people don't like to be called Doctor, even if medically qualified. Specialist surgeons among them, I think.

People, people, you're not looking at the real implications of this.

CATGIRLS

Oh yeah, and superpowers.

[OverdrivePrime]

Everyone realizes that they're nowhere near to creating an artificial human right?
Pfft. Artificial humans are a piece of cake to create. Hollywood's been doing it for decades.


That still doesn't reduce the kick-arsery of this project.

[Devils_Advocate]

I don't like this kind of thing at all, I'm OK with taking out the parts of our genes that are responsible for cancer and other bad type things, but I don't know it just does not sit well with me. I don't think we should start trying to make people smarter stronger or what ever cause if they ever. I know this is not that but it is a step in that direction. I once was watching a special on genetics and what we could do to make humans adaptable for space travel and at some point these genetically enhanced humans did not seem so human anymore. I'm not the kind that would hate someone who has been genetically enhanced if that kind of thing that ever happened, can't blame someone for something that they did not chose. I'm conflicted.
I find this attitude distressing.

Okay, so you wouldn't hold anything against people who were genetically modified through no choice of their own. That's good.

What about someone who chose to be enhanced? Via gene therapy, cyborgic implants, nanobots, whatever. Would you hold that against them? Would you try to talk people out of doing that? Would you do more than talk? Would you criminilaze such things, given the opportunity?

Is it a bad thing that intelligent life ever arose on Earth?

Was it wrong for human beings to form societies, to invent technology, to try to gain more control over their world?

Was the creation of the internet a great evil?

Some may say that we shouldn't "play God." But... we've been playing God for a while now. How on Earth can that have escaped anyone's notice? Humanity reshapes the world to better suit our needs. That's basically our nature. And the proper response to any negative impacts of that is not to decide to quit at civilization. The proper response is to organize things to protect endangered species, to come up with technology that takes carbon dioxide out of the air, to figure out how we want the world to be and then to make that happen. There's no reason to stop playing God just when we're getting really good at it. What we ought to do is try to play God more cautiously, more carefully, better.

Humans are clearly one of the most successful species on the planet, with a hell of a lot going for us. Yet we're still stupid, frail, weak, ignorant, and evil in contrast with what we could be. But we reach ever higher because we've been blessed more than in any other way with the ability to trancend our limitations. That's the single most precious, valuable aspect of humanity. Why one would wish to toss that aside in favor of our limitations is beyond me.

I have to eat and sleep and drink, even if I don't want to. I can get sick. I can be hurt. I can die. And most regretfully of all, there are many things that are simply beyond my understanding. All of these are "bad type things". That they're perfectly standard is no reason not to try to overcome them. How on Earth would that even make sense? The more common an affliction, the more people stand to benefit by alleviating it. If anything, it's the impediments that all humans share that we should be working hardest to overcome.

"Such is human nature, that if we were all hit on the head with a baseball bat once a week, philosophers would soon discover many amazing benefits of being hit on the head with a baseball bat: It toughens us, renders us less fearful of lesser pains, makes bat-free days all the sweeter. But if people are not currently being hit with baseball bats, they will not volunteer for it."

Transhumanism is just simplified humanism. (http://www.singinst.org/blog/2007/06/16/transhumanism-as-simplified-humanism/)

[Ezlo]

I don't think it's a good idea. But if it turns out to be successful, good for them! Another giant leap for mankind, now only if we could get some good new energy sources from this.

[daggaz]

This story is a little vague. I would doubt its accuracy.

Its a real story. Ive been following it for a while now, this is just a reprinted version off one of the main channels. Think I first read about this guy almost a year ago, actually.

I study nanotechnology, and this kind of thing has been in the works for several years. The idea isnt even new, and there are dozens of labs working on the 'strip down a bacterium to minimal necessity approach-' But this guy is the first one to actually create an entire artificial genome. That in itself is an amazing accomplishment. Most labs out there have only built an artificial gene or two, and small ones at that.

[Telonius]

The story's real, and so is the scientist. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Venter), he does have a doctorate from UC San Diego.

Link to the J. Craig Venter institute here (http://www.jcvi.org/).

[Trog]

I think it will be interesting moving towards smarter than human intelligence, which we will inevitably do. It will be good for solving the world's problems at a much faster pace. :smallsmile:

[Gungnir]

To those excited by catgirls:
They won't live long if threads like this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63131) continue to live long and prosper.