Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell. "Sythetic bacteria Might be used to create new drugs" I don't want to Bias the poll, so I'm not going to discuss this much in my intial post, but if given the choice, would you use Drugs made from artifical life form, or eat meat from artificial lifeforms? Would you want to know if your drugs or meat came from real sources, or artificial ones?
surprised this thread isn't bigger, I was reading about this yesterday. This is quite possibly the biggest scientific breakthrough of this millenium. The possibilities are literally endless. I voted for the "i'm all for it" option. I'd eat ALF meat, take ALF drugs, fuck an ALF bitch, etc etc.
This experiment seems to indicate, that it takes a certain degree of intelligence and organizational skill to make this sort of thing work. It could not have simply "caused itself." but i will save that for the philosophy section
This is pretty wild. If we can program life-forms to do anything we want that opens a whole pandora's box of technologies! Um, no, that's not what this indicates at all. This indicates that a) we know enough about genetics to be able to synthesize a new genome, b) our gene-splicing techniques are good enough to allow us to successfully swap entire genomes out of cells. Just because we can do it doesn't mean it can't happen on its own. That would be like saying that because humans managed to create a fire by arranging a circle of stones, piling up fuel in just the right way, getting some tinder and flint, and blowing carefully, that that indicates that it takes a certain degree of intelligence and organizational skill to make a fire happen. Well of course it fucking doesn't, all you need is a well-placed lightning bolt to get a fire! It's just that if we want to harness this naturally-occurring phenomenon for our own purposes then we need to invest some time and thought into how to make this process work for us.
News like this is very exciting to me. It makes me very optimistic about scientific progress and how much different the world will be in 20 years.
Ehh, I'll be more impressed when they can build the entire cell from scratch. That being said, doesn't the fact that it took them years of research to do this strongly support the case of intelligent design? I mean, if everything happened by chance, then why couldn't they just leave the chemicals in a dish and wait for it to turn into life?
Vote now before its to late! This poll will close on 10-06-2037 at 09:50 AM I am all for any technological advancement it is going to occur weather we like it or not. There are to many humans suffering not to proceed we have passed the point of turning back, I do however think it must be done carefully. To many big corporations could care less about accidents (BP comes to mind). With great power comes great responsibility and I must admit mankind is lacking in this respect. There are plenty of resources on this earth enough for every human to lead a life of dignity and prosperity. Most of us work all our lives to make another man rich and that is wrong in my 02. Who needs more money than they can spend in five life times? Got to kill that Ego to see the truth. But yeah I have been waiting to sink my teeth into a nice synthetic steak for awhile now. This technology is just the beginning. Pandora's box is open what shall we do with the contents it spews forth? I hope we make the correct choices. Peace friends
I think it's going to be a long time before we see any of the stuff on your poll. It's still pretty cool though.
Yah, thats why the poll closes in 2037. (actually i think i might have put in too many zeros when i wrote it^^) Would be nice if they got onto making some Oil eating bacteria, that multiplys 1 million times faster than the real stuff. As long as they can make them with an "off switch", like dies when exposed to High UV etc. I think you'll be seeing this technology everywhere alot sooner than expected, GM Food didnt take long to catch on, but seemed like pure science fiction when it was released.
oh great, now that bacteria is gonna grow into something that wipes out every living thing on earth..........