Scientist Poised to Create the First Artificial Life
Right here in San Diego biologist Craig Ventre teeters on the verge of creating the first artificial life form on Earth. His group has created the first synthetic chromosome from lab materials, a feat in itself that is nothing short of magnificent.
They’ve previously introduced the genome into dead bacteria, completely changing its makeup. Now the trick is to introduce that same genome into a living host cell, where it will take over to become a new species.
So how is this brave new species going to be put to work? The bacteria could be released in the upper atmosphere, absorbing carbon dioxide in the battle against global warming. The process could also be used to create cures for life threating illnesses.
Dr. Ventre told the Guardian that this is “a very important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before”
Don’t be confused, Dr. Ventre isn’t in this racket for charity. In 1999 he was the founder and president of Celera Genomics, a company that was run parallel to the Human Genome Project. He tried to privatize the data and charge a fee to access the databases. The scientific community lashed out and produced a full sequence with full open access.
A similar concern is that he has already filed for a patent on the new species that he is about to create. Is he dipping his hands too far into the cookie jar again and this time will the scientific community have the power to gain access to the research?
Call me crazy but I’m concerned about a group of individuals that plan to legally own several types of living species.
Watch the future as it unfolds:
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lordmanilastone said
am October 9 2007 @ 8:44 pm
I am crazy too because I am concerned about that too. That would be pretty ominous. On the other hand, I like the idea that this thing provides fresh hope for people who have incurable diseases…^^
Jerad Kaliher said
am October 9 2007 @ 9:36 pm
@lordmanilastone, that is the exact stance that I tend to take with radical new fronts like these. If this branch of science ended up creating a cure for disease, addiction and provided hope for human suffering, why wouldn’t we want to pursue it?
I can understand that with this particular topic that we may need to be a little cautious. I mean, after all, this could also be used for horrible means – including bio-weapons.
Steve M said
am October 9 2007 @ 10:37 pm
Wow what a fantastic innovation. With this we can truly create artificial life. There really does need to stringent tests and safeguards with this however. If let go without being fully tested then anything could occur
Jerad Kaliher said
am October 10 2007 @ 12:04 am
@Steve M, well it isn’t exactly like zapping a test tube and creating life. In that regard it is a little like cheating. It is manipulating already living cells into a species that has never existed.
This type of research does need an extremely controlled environment… I hope they are not scheming in their evil tower to release mutated beasts on the general population!
Bill said
am October 25 2007 @ 11:17 am
Kinda Spooky Ain’t It?
Jerad Kaliher said
am October 25 2007 @ 11:54 am
@Bill, with the implication that something could go horrendously wrong, I agree. I just hope that we’re able to use science like this to our advantage.
Bob Downs said
am December 16 2007 @ 11:57 pm
every new thing has both pluses and minuses.
The invention of the knife allowed man to cut things
and was hugely beneficial. But it could also be used to kill other people.
You can make a long list of developments down through the ages and almost all had both good and bad applications.
As a previous poster wrote, there have to be proper
controls so that for example, some organism isn’t released into the atmosphere that totally eliminates the CO2 and thereby turns the planet into one big snowball.
Jerad Kaliher said
am December 17 2007 @ 7:10 am
@Bob Downs, I completely agree with you. As a species we should have fundamental guidelines for how this research should be furthered. I’m talking about having a mandate that if artificial intelligence is every created with its own consciousness that it shouldn’t be installed in nanomachines.