US Scientists Close to Creating Artificial Life

[sandy]

US scientists have taken a major step toward creating the first ever artificial life form by synthetically reproducing the DNA of a bacteria.
The move, which comes after five years of research, is seen as the penultimate stage in the endeavour to create an artificial life form based entirely on a man-made DNA genome -- something which has tantalised scientists and sci-fi writers for years....

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080124194415.ngrte3c7&show_article=1

It's gonna be interesting....

 

[draqon]

a thread of this exists already

 

[sandy]

a thread of this exists already

Oh, ok. Sorry. I didn't see one. I just assumed by the date on this story that it was new.

Mods: can you please combine with with the old thread or remove it if the same news story is already posted somewhere else? Thanks.

 

[kmguru]

I can not find it. Where is the thread?

 

[Reiku]

Mmmmm....

 

[orcot]

interesting altough it would have been far more interesting if they tried to make a silicum or a methane based lifeform in stead of a good old fashion carbon lifeform seeing they start from scratch anyway. Still one hell of a mayor achievment with more to come no doubt

 

[weed_eater_guy]

well, a methane-based form would likely need to live at liquid-nitrogen temperatures and silicum might need excessively high temperatures, this of course based on very limited web-trolling i did a while back, lol, I could be wrong.

Carbon's the form we understand most, i don't see any reason to jump the gun and mess around with other chemistries yet, but that's just me, i'm no biologist or anything.

 

[domesticated om]

How many transistors and microchips will be in this new biological life form? Can it pass a turing test?

 

[draqon]

How many transistors and microchips will be in this new biological life form? Can it pass a turing test?

it will be sure to follow Moore's law for sure...

 

[USS Exeter]

The problem with using biological life for microchips and transitors is that they biological components may not be able to do the tough work. Can they survive extreme temperatures? Can the withstand gamma and cosmic radiation?

Biochips, aside from the dangerous work could be a very big leap. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Diode-Man]

Either its alive or its not.... why bother calling it artificial then?

 

[Norsefire]

Wonderful

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

interesting altough it would have been far more interesting if they tried to make a silicum or a methane based lifeform in stead of a good old fashion carbon lifeform seeing they start from scratch anyway. Still one hell of a mayor achievment with more to come no doubt

Carbon is what we know. Best to start off easy, don't you think?

Either its alive or its not.... why bother calling it artificial then?

Yes. "Synthetic" would be a more appropriate term.

An "artificial" diamond is a man-made stone that has many of the desirable properties of a diamond (such as brilliance and hardness) but does not have the same chemistry. It is a "simulated" diamond. A "synthetic" diamond is a real honest-to-Berzelius diamond, made in a laboratory. The only way you can distinguish it from a natural diamond is that the man-made one has no inclusions (impurities).

The definition of "artificial" or "simulated" life is a little more difficult to nail down, but an advanced computer program that can convince a layman but not pass a Turing test might be an example. A "synthetic" lifeform is really alive (however we define the word); it just did not occur naturally.

 

[blobrana]

This year's International Conference on Artificial Life (ALIFE XI) will be held in Europe for the first time ever from 5 to 8 August.

Read more

 

[Cris]

Diode,

Either its alive or its not.... why bother calling it artificial then?

"Artificial" simply means man made, it doesn't mean that it isn't real.

 

[Diode-Man]

I see.

Will man ever be able to imbue a creature with free will?

 

[draqon]

I see.

Will man ever be able to imbue a creature with free will?

perhaps we are our own creations. And we already did create a creature of free will, its just we chose not to know of our past deeds.

 

[Norsefire]

If man himself does not have free will, how can we expect to give it to another?

 

[draqon]

If man himself does not have free will, how can we expect to give it to another?

the sole fact that we have understanding of such a concept as free will means we have free will indeed and do have a possibility of giving it to another. Moreover the fact that we have free will yet are not entire sure of it, also shows a possibility that we might not be aware of many things we possess and are part of (God...).

 

[Cris]

I'm really not sure what is meant by free will apart from an ability to make choices of action based on data from our surrounding environment combined with neurological and hormonal interactions.

Why wouldn't a man-made biological organism with similar complex levels of neurology and biological functions not be able to process such data in a similar manner?