And So We Created Life

[quote]anonym wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]anonym wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]anonym wrote:

[quote]pat wrote:
Correct, this was a chemically mutated gene, controlling a living organism.

I do want the oil shitting bacteria though.[/quote]

The chromosome was artificially created, not mutated.[/quote]

Even if it was a synthetic gene, nothing was created.[/quote]

The genome was designed and synthesized from scratch in a laboratory without using any natural DNA in the process.

So, I’m not sure what you mean by nothing being ‘created’. The scientists made the chromosome, themselves. If you mean that they didn’t invent a never-before-seen organism, then I suppose you are right in that regard.

While I agree that it doesn’t constitute creating life - which in my mind would require not only swapping ‘blueprints’ but also constructing the cellular machinery to go along with it - to say that all they did was insert a mutated ‘gene’ is incorrect.[/quote]

You must have missed my link:

http://www.getyourowndirt.com/

The synthetic DNA was still re-arranging existing material. Hence, nothing was created.

To actually create life, in the same sense of discussing creation, you have to start with nothing[/quote]

No offense, dude, who’s even talking about religion here?

They “manufactured” a chromosome that contained instructions directing self-replication and other processes essential to life. That, and their ability to successfully transplant the structure into a different species of bacteria to result in a viable cell with complete replacement of the original genome is what is remarkable.

Where the starting material came from is irrelevant since no one has used this to take a shot at the existence of a god. And I’m not sure where you get the idea that creating life means you HAVE to start with nothing, but I guess it all ties back into that whole religious thing.

But if that’s all you want to take away from this, then more power to you.[/quote]

Way to build some straw men there. Anytime you evoke a phrase like creating life, You are already stepping out of science. Both the words life and create are also philosophical concepts. I was merely noting, for purely reflectional purposes, the scope of the word creating/ed being used.

And you know very well that for every educated person that understands this for what it is, 10 others will be taking it as something along the lines of “this proves god isnâ??t needed to create life”. It is very pertinent to the discussion of such material in a forum like this.

Who said anything about what I take away from it? Who brought up anything challenging god? My whole point was specifying that this has nothing to do with god. If you find it offensive that scientific claims should be necessarily qualified for public use, maybe you have some bias of your own.

[quote]IrishSteel wrote:
ventor himself said they DID NOT CREATE LIFE - so the press is hyping something patently untrue.[/quote]

Which is exactly what I was getting at with my post.

[quote]pat wrote:
I do want the oil shitting bacteria though.[/quote]

Fuck that, I want the dinosaur.