"We are as gods and might as well get good at it.
Borrowed from elsewhere - but quite good/controversial potentially[;)]
"Scientists in Maryland have already built the world's first entirely handcrafted chromosome -- a large looping strand of DNA made from scratch in a laboratory, containing all the instructions a microbe needs to live and reproduce."
"In the coming year, they hope to transplant it into a cell, where it is expected to "boot itself up," like software downloaded from the Internet, and cajole the waiting cell to do its bidding. And while the first synthetic chromosome is a plagiarized version of a natural one, others that code for life forms that have never existed before are already under construction."
Unbelievably exciting! This is definitely one of the most important scientific developments in history. (I for one, can't wait!)
ARTIFICIAL life. Freakin' cool. I never thought I'd live to see that. It's amazing how fast technology can advance sometimes.
[:D]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
"Scientists in Maryland have already built the world's first entirely handcrafted chromosome -- a large looping strand of DNA made from scratch in a laboratory, containing all the instructions a microbe needs to live and reproduce."
"In the coming year, they hope to transplant it into a cell, where it is expected to "boot itself up," like software downloaded from the Internet, and cajole the waiting cell to do its bidding. And while the first synthetic chromosome is a plagiarized version of a natural one, others that code for life forms that have never existed before are already under construction."
Unbelievably exciting! This is definitely one of the most important scientific developments in history. (I for one, can't wait!)
ARTIFICIAL life. Freakin' cool. I never thought I'd live to see that. It's amazing how fast technology can advance sometimes.
[:D]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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Who knows what other problems or diseases we can create. 0 -
Yep, it will probably cause more harm than good. 0 -
Beware of the BLOB 0 -
Every time this subject comes up, I'm reminded of a line from both the book and the movie, "Jurassic Park" -- to the effect that, "You were so busy finding out if you could, it never occurred to you to ask if you should."
Our control of technology has far outpaced our grasp of morality or even common sense, and even if those two key elements in deciding what we ought to do were to catch up with what we're able to -- there are certain things we ought not mess with. Not even with all the potential for good that could come of research like this do I think it's worth the potential for harm.0 -
its not artificial life until they synthesize the cell too.
Just making a chromosome via chemical synthesis isn't new.
Most organisms have multiple chromosomes, we have had yeast artificial chromosomes for a long time.
These researchers sure wasted alot of money to do something of little scientific value.
DNA synthesis like they are using costs ~$1 per base pair, and using mycoplasm as a template (smallest genome), factoring in other costs, this must have cost at least $1 million for DNA synthesis, and probably several million for the entire project... now an experiment I have proposed would have far greater implications.0 -
Not artificial life! Merely tampering with existing life. Not even similar. 0 -
quote:nord:
Not artificial life! Merely tampering with existing life. Not even similar.
How does one "build a chromosome - from scratch" by tamperingwith existing life?
... I think you 'missed it.'0 -
Sounds like time to buy stock in Cyborg, unlimited. 0 -
Haven't these idiots ever watched science fiction movies? This can't be good. [:0] 0 -
Umm--- Anybody remember the movie jurassic park[?][:D] 0 -
You guys should really read up on genes and chromosomes.
It's all in the chemicals, my dear Watson, in the chemicals!
http://library.thinkquest.org/19037/therapy2.html
The mapping and splicing has been going on for a few years, now
- much more to come. It's being used to find defensive methods
to thwart bacteriological warfare, among other things. If your
enemy is going to use the new technologies (and they will) for offensive purposes, you'd (we'd) better have a working familiarity
with all of it's aspects - probably a mastery will be necessary.
[:D]0 -
they might just make something like alien, that kills every living thing 0 -
There already is such a monster ... it's called ebola.
... I'd imagine there are even worse hemorrhagics in
stored test tubes or 'on the drawing boards,' somewhere.0 -
Zipper -
The answer to your question is really quite simple... Fact is, you actually stated the answer in your first post. "Scientists injected" being the point here.
Injected an instruction set into a living cell, not created life. The difference is profound!
In the simplest of terms our scientists have created a new operating system for a computer. Granted, they had to know how the computer's CPU works, but they didn't create it. They merely played games with the instruction set.
Mankind is a strange sort. We tinker with all of creation. We're the smartest creatures (as far as is known) that have ever inhabited this small outpost on the edge of the galaxy, yet we manage to screw up almost everything.
Some of us dream of becoming gods by denying God. How can we be so dumb as not to understand that manipulation is NOT creation? How can we not see that for all our efforts we have not created carbon-based life? Do we not understand the difference between creation and manipulation?
Now then... If mankind is ever to become a god, then we're well on the way with an entirely different kind of life form. It's silicon based and has the potential to supplant carbon based life in the future. Right now development is likely akin to the earliest stirrings of carbon life as it has yet to be able to reproduce without outside intervention.
Strangely enough, the legacy of mankind may well be non-biological. We may well be the "creators" (gods) of silicon based life. I fear that we as a race are smart enough to succeed in this venture as we certainly can impart our knowledge to the machines we build. I worry about the one thing we humans have that cannot be transferred... A soul.
At just what point will our silicon slaves become our masters? And just when will it become a logical decision to terminate the support of carbon based life? After all, carbon life is illogical by any definition. It ages, it becomes diseased, it uses resources and pollutes, it's vulnerable to so many things, and it can't easily be modified or upgraded.
The silicon chip, on the other hand... Look at the potential.0 -
Play God and the real one will put a world of hurt on you. 0 -
quote:nord:
The answer to your question is really quite simple... Fact is, you actually stated the answer in your first post. "Scientists injected" being the point here.
I think the actual point is what was being injected - a wholly 'built from chemical scratch' string of molecules, molecule by molecule, strand of DNA.
THAT is the accomplishment - a first step - once that has been accomplished, the rest will follow.
As far as the technology being 'misused' - that's part of the 'technology game' - thank goodness 'firearms technology' has never been abused, or misused, for destructive purposes, instead of constructive (hunting & target shooting) purposes.
[:D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by cce1302
Beware of the BLOB
I believe the technical term now is "Big Grey Goo"[;)]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo0 -
Zipper, chemical synthesis of DNA has been around for decades, its just cheaper now, this isn't much different.
Its a false statement they built the first entirely human made chromosome.
This is merely the first human made chromosome that contains all the sequences needed to function. As you should know, a lot of life uses multiple chromosome sets.
Genome is a more accurate term describing the entire collection of sequences across all chromosomes.
However, genomes have already been made synthetically before, for viruses, and maybe for mitochondria/choroplasts- which are essentially symbiotic bacteria.
Its the same "operating system", slightly different programs running, same hardware.
I've got a patent pending, and am working on a grant proposal, for an experiment (using synthetic DNA like this one) that has far greater implications.
A truly new "operating system", that (just like Macs vs PCs) would lead to complete viral immunity.
- And I have thought of all the crazy science fiction you could do with such a premise0 -
I bow to your expertise and - because of lack of free time at the moment - assume that what you say is correct.
I do, however, find this exciting - from a lay person's perspective - and do also think that the possibilities that this implies stretch far beyond current imagination.
I welcome any scientific progress in this area - but do admit I'm not technically schooled in this realm - by any stretch of my imagination!
[:D]0
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