Artificial LIfe

[Jake]

Apparently artificial life of some form has been created. Here are a couple of articles about it and examining it. What do you guys think?

Artificial lifeforms: Genesis redux | The Economist
BBC News - Newsnight - Potential of synthetic life milestone for science

 

[Skyler]

Well, for one thing, it doesn't look like they actually created their own bacterium from scratch--they just took an existing bacterium and swapped out its operating system. So when they say it "had no ancestry", that's a little misleading. It's a genetically modified Mycoplasma mycoides.

To be sure, other scientists are working on manufacturing other parts of the cell besides its DNA. Is that "artificial"? What's the difference between building machines that exploit natural processes to create ribosomes and growing bacteria that exploit natural processes to create ribosomes?

And what is the big deal theologically about mankind creating life, anyway? We've been doing that since Adam and Eve.

 

[MarieP]

And what is the big deal theologically about mankind creating life, anyway? We've been doing that since Adam and Eve.

Great point! No one is saying that life is being created "from nothing"- although if we say it would have no theological implications, would that be giving a nod to those who believe in theistic evolution? (Within the non-human animal kingdom of course- those creatures that do not bear the Imago Dei)

 

[Skyler]

And what is the big deal theologically about mankind creating life, anyway? We've been doing that since Adam and Eve.

Great point! No one is saying that life is being created "from nothing"- although if we say it would have no theological implications, would that be giving a nod to those who believe in theistic evolution? (Within the non-human animal kingdom of course- those creatures that do not bear the Imago Dei)

I don't see how. Could you elaborate on what you're thinking?

 

[TimV]

Dr Venter’s ambition to create a living organism from close to scratch

What a bunch of dolts. I combined two organisms into a new creation:

and that means I am God.

 

[MarieP]

And what is the big deal theologically about mankind creating life, anyway? We've been doing that since Adam and Eve.

Great point! No one is saying that life is being created "from nothing"- although if we say it would have no theological implications, would that be giving a nod to those who believe in theistic evolution? (Within the non-human animal kingdom of course- those creatures that do not bear the Imago Dei)

I don't see how. Could you elaborate on what you're thinking?

The theistic evolutionist might argue that "since we can turn a sheep into a cow by changing its DNA, why not evolution?" When we go to Genesis 1:24 and point out God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind" they would say, "Yes, but we can change one kind to another. Why can't God through evolution." I know there's debate about speciation and what exactly is a new species and what is not. But it's a good thing to think through!

 

[Skyler]

And what is the big deal theologically about mankind creating life, anyway? We've been doing that since Adam and Eve.

Great point! No one is saying that life is being created "from nothing"- although if we say it would have no theological implications, would that be giving a nod to those who believe in theistic evolution? (Within the non-human animal kingdom of course- those creatures that do not bear the Imago Dei)

I don't see how. Could you elaborate on what you're thinking?

The theistic evolutionist might argue that "since we can turn a sheep into a cow by changing its DNA, why not evolution?" When we go to Genesis 1:24 and point out God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind" they would say, "Yes, but we can change one kind to another. Why can't God through evolution." I know there's debate about speciation and what exactly is a new species and what is not. But it's a good thing to think through!

Even setting aside the theological implications for the moment, sure, God could have used evolution. But he could also just as easily have said "Let there be cows" and had them poof into existence. So that doesn't really prove anything beyond that it was possible. The question of whether or not he actually did is a different question that has no bearing on whether or not we can put together microbes with pieces from other microbes.

As an aside, the scientists who created the microbe didn't use evolution, so even then it's a moot point.

 

[BobVigneault]

If you build a cookie using one molecule at a time, you haven't created a 'new' cookie; you've simply taken the long, expensive, ridiculously complicated way to 'copy' a cookie using parts that God spoke into being with just a WORD.

The problem with these types of stories is that the scientist is just trying to discover how things work. It's pretty hard for a news writer to make an interesting story out of ANYTHING in a scientific journal. As with politics, news sells on the basis of how much emotion it can stir up, this is why Faux (Fox) News is number one. The news media likes to draw lines in society and exaggerate them and then use them to stir up emotion.

The news uses hot button terms that they know will excite the Left Behind Christians, the Tex Mars Christians, etc. 'Playing God", "creating life", "new species" conjures up images from horror movies and previous debates, the emotions stirred up create the news that sells. The news media as a very big dependency on unrest and dissension and maintaining factions. This is why what passes for news are not facts at all but exaggerations and hyperbole.

 

[Jake]

Albert Mohler's thoughts: AlbertMohler.com – Has Man Created Life?