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Thread: Artificial Life: We are close

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    Artificial Life: We are close

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...601900_pf.html

    Quote Originally Posted by article
    Now researchers are 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.

    The cobbling together of life from synthetic DNA, scientists and philosophers agree, will be a watershed event, blurring the line between biological and artificial -- and forcing a rethinking of what it means for a thing to be alive.

    "This raises a range of big questions about what nature is and what it could be," said Paul Rabinow, an anthropologist at the University of California at Berkeley who studies science's effects on society. "Evolutionary processes are no longer seen as sacred or inviolable. People in labs are figuring them out so they can improve upon them for different purposes."

    That unprecedented degree of control over creation raises more than philosophical questions, however. What kinds of organisms will scientists, terrorists and other creative individuals make? How will these self-replicating entities be contained? And who might end up owning the patent rights to the basic tools for synthesizing life?

    Some experts are worried that a few maverick companies are already gaining monopoly control over the core "operating system" for artificial life and are poised to become the Microsofts of synthetic biology. That could stifle competition, they say, and place enormous power in a few people's hands.

    "We're heading into an era where people will be writing DNA programs like the early days of computer programming, but who will own these programs?" asked Drew Endy, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    At the core of synthetic biology's new ascendance are high-speed DNA synthesizers that can produce very long strands of genetic material from basic chemical building blocks: sugars, nitrogen-based compounds and phosphates.

    Today a scientist can write a long genetic program on a computer just as a maestro might compose a musical score, then use a synthesizer to convert that digital code into actual DNA. Experiments with "natural" DNA indicate that when a faux chromosome gets plopped into a cell, it will be able to direct the destruction of the cell's old DNA and become its new "brain" -- telling the cell to start making a valuable chemical, for example, or a medicine or a toxin, or a bio-based gasoline substitute.

    Unlike conventional biotechnology, in which scientists induce modest genetic changes in cells to make them serve industrial purposes, synthetic biology involves the large-scale rewriting of genetic codes to create metabolic machines with singular purposes.

    "I see a cell as a chassis and power supply for the artificial systems we are putting together," said Tom Knight of MIT, who likes to compare the state of cell biology today to that of mechanical engineering in 1864. That is when the United States began to adopt standardized thread sizes for nuts and bolts, an advance that allowed the construction of complex devices from simple, interchangeable parts.

    If biology is to morph into an engineering discipline, it is going to need similarly standardized parts, Knight said. So he and colleagues have started a collection of hundreds of interchangeable genetic components they call BioBricks, which students and others are already popping into cells like Lego pieces.

    So far, synthetic biology is still semi-synthetic, involving single-cell organisms such as bacteria and yeast that have a blend of natural and synthetic DNA. The cells can reproduce, a defining trait of life. But in many cases that urge has been genetically suppressed, along with other "distracting" biological functions, to maximize productivity.
    While this might send shiver down the spine of a creationist christian ... i don't know what it means from our angle. It sounds good and should be real real breakthrough in genetic engineering if this DNA from scratch can be used to create life.
    What is Here, is Elsewhere. What is not Here, is Nowhere.

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    Re: Artificial Life: We are close

    Quote Originally Posted by sm78 View Post
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...601900_pf.html

    While this might send shiver down the spine of a creationist christian ... i don't know what it means from our angle. It sounds good and should be real real breakthrough in genetic engineering if this DNA from scratch can be used to create life.
    Namaste Singhi,

    A nice and timely topic of great interest.

    I have read this earlier and it is not very surprising that bio-technology will take this direction. There will be a lot of money and power. Much of this work is done in automated synthesizers and I do not see that it is a creative thing as, say, Newton's or Einstein's works are. Also please take note that the artificial DNA will still need to be put in a cell.

    It is not creating life. It is tinkering with existing life.

    Science yet does not know where the intelligence is. The result of this venture is not yet out. Lets see. If this science progresses to cure illnesses it will be nice but we have seen that with one solution that is offered many unsolvable problems crop up.

    Many problems of the present day are traceable to humans messing with nature for commercial purposes. At the same time, who can stop the movement of Nataraja -- whether towards destruction or towards renewal?

    The potential is stupendous. Someday, you will be able to pollute drinking water to create an abnormal species.

    Om
    That which is without letters (parts) is the Fourth, beyond apprehension through ordinary means, the cessation of the phenomenal world, the auspicious and the non-dual. Thus Om is certainly the Self. He who knows thus enters the Self by the Self.

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    Re: Artificial Life: We are close

    Quote Originally Posted by sm78
    While this might send shiver down the spine of a creationist christian ... i don't know what it means from our angle. It sounds good and should be real real breakthrough in genetic engineering if this DNA from scratch can be used to create life.
    Thanks for posting this, sm78 ! This article caught my atenttion too in today's newspaper. To tell you the truth, I was not at all surprised ... I was sort of expecting it ... though it is difficult to guess to what length ultimately it would go.

    "What is" is all there is ... fully concious ... we don't see conciousness in so called non-living things because of our own conditioning & limitations of nature of mind.
    "Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"

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    Re: Artificial Life: We are close

    This also reminds me of the fat belly of Ganesha.

    One day Shiva was pensive and Kubera asked Him the reason. Shiva said that He was a bit worried about insatiable hunger of Ganesha. Kubera, being a good friend assured that Shiva was not to worry since Kubera had enough to feed Ganesha.

    Thus Kubera proceeded to feed Ganesha and in very short time, he became a pauper having had to pawn his personal belongings also. Then Shiva taught Kubera "This greed is simply insatiable till one sees the divinity in Ganesha's big head".

    The greed may be for money, power, or personal fame/achievement.

    Om
    Last edited by atanu; 19 December 2007 at 02:14 AM. Reason: spelling
    That which is without letters (parts) is the Fourth, beyond apprehension through ordinary means, the cessation of the phenomenal world, the auspicious and the non-dual. Thus Om is certainly the Self. He who knows thus enters the Self by the Self.

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    Re: Artificial Life: We are close

    Hari Om
    ~~~~~~

    Quote Originally Posted by sm78 View Post
    While this might send shiver down the spine of a creationist christian ... i don't know what it means from our angle. It sounds good and should be real real breakthrough in genetic engineering if this DNA from scratch can be used to create life.

    Namaste sm78,


    I am in hopes only good will come of this. Yet I stand cautious. Our science is good at the specific, yet not at the whole.

    Will the scientist be mindful enough to use the discoveries wisely? and will it reside within the laws of nature that will work for good. That is, can the scientist see the nth implication or nth iteration? Mostly likely not, and they need this to start the iterations.

    My POV may have a tinge of conservative-ness about it, as I am reserved regarding this matter. Life took Billions of years to unfold and am cautious when its done like 'minute rice'.

    pranams,
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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