Scientists poised to create Life

[tony4moroney]

FTA:

Researchers are now poised to cross a dramatic barrier: the creation of life forms driven by completely artificial DNA.

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.

Link

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Thoughts?

[cellardoor6]

I'm going to wait until I get excited about it.

I'm unimpressed until they create a half-human, half-shark hybrid or something.

[reviewer-general]

At 12/17/07 10:00 PM, cellardoor6 wrote: I'm unimpressed until they create a half-human, half-shark hybrid or something.

They created YOU, didn't they?

;-)

;

[Drakim]

We use selective breeding to get genetically changes all the time in dogs and horses. The very existence of the pit bull dog for example, is solely because we messed with genetics, only, we did it "natures way" by using selective breeding.

This is simply the same, without beating around the bush.

[cellardoor6]

At 12/17/07 10:01 PM, reviewer-general wrote:

At 12/17/07 10:00 PM, cellardoor6 wrote: I'm unimpressed until they create a half-human, half-shark hybrid or something.

They created YOU, didn't they?

I was born on a military base. There's a possibility that I may be genetically-modified.

And I would be OK with that, because that's awesome.

[Palestine]

I don't like it when humans try to play God.

[LordJaric]

At 12/17/07 10:17 PM, Palestine wrote: I don't like it when humans try to play God.

If god didn't want us to have the skills to create life, then god would of made it impossible for us to do it.

[Empanado]

At 12/17/07 10:23 PM, LordJaric wrote:

At 12/17/07 10:17 PM, Palestine wrote: I don't like it when humans try to play God.

If god didn't want us to have the skills to create life, then god would of made it impossible for us to do it.

If God didn't want us to commit rape he wouldn't have given us a dick.

Not that I do not support this, though. As previously said, it paves the way to much awesomeness.

[LordJaric]

At 12/17/07 10:29 PM, Empanado wrote:

If God didn't want us to commit rape he wouldn't have given us a dick.

That is assuming that every man (don't forget women can rape to) on earth is a rapist.

[tony4moroney]

At 12/17/07 10:08 PM, Drakim wrote: We use selective breeding to get genetically changes all the time in dogs and horses. The very existence of the pit bull dog for example, is solely because we messed with genetics, only, we did it "natures way" by using selective breeding.

This is simply the same, without beating around the bush.

Creating lifeforms from synthetic strings of dna, being able to manipulate dna directly, is just a little bit different to breeding dogs. It's kind of like comparing your house to the Burj Dubai and saying 'oh they're basically the same' when one is a massive feat in engineering and the other one is, well, a house.

[cellardoor6]

At 12/17/07 10:44 PM, tony4moroney wrote: It's kind of like comparing your house to the Burj Dubai

I will have an apartment in that building sometime in my life. It's one of my goals.

subject change

[SEXY-FETUS]

Sounds awesome. I'm just waiting for them to create some sort of virus out of this (think the descaladores from the speaker series). Also why is everyone thinking of hybrids? Wouldn't it be much cooler if they are able to create something completely new?

[SolInvictus]

At 12/17/07 10:00 PM, cellardoor6 wrote: I'm unimpressed until they create a half-human, half-shark hybrid or something.

with or without the lasers?

[tony4moroney]

At 12/17/07 11:25 PM, cellardoor6 wrote:

At 12/17/07 10:44 PM, tony4moroney wrote: It's kind of like comparing your house to the Burj Dubai

I will have an apartment in that building sometime in my life. It's one of my goals.

subject change

I'd want to live in Dubai sometime as well, I'm more of an outdoorsy person, and I love the water so something like this is preferable to me, but I wouldn't mind just living in Dubai. Problems though are it's restrictive laws and heavily conservative islam influences. Of course I don't doubt it'll grow out of these though and become more of an open society. Pretty funny how you'd want to live in what could possibly become a prime terrorist target though.

[Boke]

I can create life easily, call my girl, get a bottle of Jack and .....

[SmilezRoyale]

Lol, artificial humans, another way for humanity to create a group of individuals to dehumanize in orer to serve their purposes as economic sacrifices for the rest of the nobility, and then several years later make idiotically emotionalism arguments against it, claiming immorality and the like.

I'd like to see humanity start mixing, not creating new unique breeds; it just paves the way for a return to rascism and politicial correctness; the 2 things i hate most in this pointless world.

[Elfer]

At 12/17/07 11:51 PM, SolInvictus wrote:

At 12/17/07 10:00 PM, cellardoor6 wrote: I'm unimpressed until they create a half-human, half-shark hybrid or something.

with or without the lasers?

That would be impractical. It would be much more practical to create the hybrid first, then give them eye laser surgery.

[Blah446]

I believe this could be a very good thing, and a very bad thing too.
Imagine what scientists could do, the possibilities are endless... that is also the problem,
imagine if the scientists created a new race of "supermen" they would surpass all regular people like me and you.

[emmytee]

At 12/17/07 10:17 PM, Palestine wrote: I don't like it when humans try to play God.

No one cares what Palestine thinks.

[MrOctopi]

This thread is quite similar to Drakim's post bout robots.

I think that we really don't need it.
But you never know...

[Seizureman47]

I don't think mankind should mess with life. It will probably turn out that they're going to create a new type of disease by messing with chromosomes and such. One day scientists are going to screw up and future generations will have hands sticking out of their faces.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

a half cat half human hybrid would be cool to.

[a2toedmonkey]

At 12/18/07 07:57 PM, Seizureman47 wrote: I don't think mankind should mess with life. It will probably turn out that they're going to create a new type of disease by messing with chromosomes and such. One day scientists are going to screw up and future generations will have hands sticking out of their faces.

Doubtful, in fact it's so doubtful the dna would make the cell divide in my opinion that i'm skeptical about the whole thing. But if it is created, it will just be a simple cell, maybe the DNA could give off some less than basic mechanisms, but it is still just going to be a basic cell. For them to make a virus, they would actually have to put together the specific chemicals in for a virus, and dna- or Rna- to give it info to reproduce. It would take even more to make it attack Haploid cells(which would be sex cells i believe) And make hands stick out of faces.

[MortifiedPenguins]

I'm waiting till the make a half man, half bear, and half pig.
A nice ManBearPig.

But, in other news, yes this is a complete fuck up of the natural order and I'm ashamed to be alive when it happens.

[SmilezRoyale]

One could argue that creating a hybrid specie would bring a group of living, thinking individuals who would clearly be segregated and disdained by society would be put forcibly in the world, with no control as to why they are hated; and no legal rights. oh what a cruel world we live in.

We wouldn't want that now would we *Sad puppy eyes as i do a commercial with various young children holding teddy bears in the snow'

[MortifiedPenguins]

At 12/18/07 09:08 PM, SmilezRoyale wrote:

We wouldn't want that now would we *Sad puppy eyes as i do a commercial with various young children holding teddy bears in the snow'

Actually, that would be an interesting idea.

How does one put legal rights on this? I mean, if a human was created from this, do human right laws and our freedoms, and men's get applied to it.

I mean, it's not based from God, there not God given rights. Hell, there not even natural rights.

Would the even be human?

[SEXY-FETUS]

At 12/18/07 08:00 PM, Dante-Son-Of-Sparda wrote: a half cat half human hybrid would be cool to.

Just give it time and let evolution take care of things.

[SmilezRoyale]

At 12/18/07 09:11 PM, MortifiedPenguins wrote:

At 12/18/07 09:08 PM, SmilezRoyale wrote:

We wouldn't want that now would we *Sad puppy eyes as i do a commercial with various young children holding teddy bears in the snow'

Actually, that would be an interesting idea.

How does one put legal rights on this? I mean, if a human was created from this, do human right laws and our freedoms, and men's get applied to it.

I mean, it's not based from God, there not God given rights. Hell, there not even natural rights.

Would the even be human?

We could disembowel it if we wanted to...

so lets do that.

Or we could sell them as sex toys; no soul means they can't 'lose their spiritual virginity'.

[ThorKingOfTheVikings]

At 12/17/07 10:33 PM, LordJaric wrote:

At 12/17/07 10:29 PM, Empanado wrote:

If God didn't want us to commit rape he wouldn't have given us a dick.

That is assuming that every man (don't forget women can rape to) on earth is a rapist.

Women can't commit rape. Even if she were to force an erection it would just be surprise sex :D

[SmilezRoyale]

At 12/18/07 09:24 PM, ThorKingOfTheVikings wrote:

Women can't commit rape. Even if she were to force an erection it would just be surprise sex :D

You are wrong, but i asume you are being sarcastic.