Synthesized Life

[David]

Artificial Life! - Now there's nothing to worry about

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_ ... 132762.stm

perhaps we'll finally have reliable biological processors and everything will be organic in the musical process but surely these cells require sustanance and emit 'waste', perhaps a symbiotic environment could be engineered where these cells do our biding while feeding off each others emmissions and therefore create a true recycled process - but now I'm pipe dream rambling again as the original article mentions none of this and these ideas are not well thought out.

[Mr Arkadin]

And how to ensure he keeps getting funding:

"If we can really get cells to do the production that we want, they could help wean us off oil and reverse some of the damage to the environment by capturing carbon dioxide."

Anyone else worried by this:
"Dr Venter and his colleagues are already collaborating with pharmaceutical [and fuel] companies to design and develop chromosomes for bacteria that would produce useful [fuels and] new vaccines."

[dawman]

I knew there was a God.........my faith was slightly misplaced, I am now relieved.
There's even no need for Composers anymore either.
http://www.slate.com/id/2254232/pagenum/all/#p2

We only need an audience full of half naked Playmates that applaud and jirate around the room, wait a minute, we already have that in Vegas.....

[astroman]

it's a sad story.
people can't even build something as stupid as a nuclear reactor or drill a hole into the bottom of the sea without screwing it all up...
and this idiot thinks he knows it all.
I'd probably just blast his head off, given the opportunity.
Target identified
TERMINATE
... ah, shouldn't watch so much DVD sh*t

cheers, Tom

[garyb]

yeah, but the public will be blamed for their "greed" when the whole experiment goes horribly wrong.

[at0m]

"Unless there's a global totalitarian regime, someone somewhere will clone a human, and experiments will take place - given enough time" [as good as i remember that quote from Stephen Hawking]
"You can use an axe to chop wood, or to hurt your neighbor" [Herbie Hancock on digital synths, showing off his Fairlight CMI to Quincy Jones]

From a quantum fluctuation of pure energy, to hydrogen and then carbon, to methane, to proteins, to viruses, to large advanced DNA viruses like the mimivirus, to the nucleus of a cell, to multicelled organisms and vertebrates like us: I didn't see any God in that line.
Admittedly, it's something that science has been struggling for to do for long, so I really shouldn't be minimizing the milestone they achieved, but all these guys did was synthetically create a known, existing DNA strand, and put it into another cell's nucleus. And wow, it can self-replicate! Isn't that what a simple virus does, too? A virus is just a self-replicating protein, although not protected by a nucleus and without the 'factory' of the rest of the cell that provides building blocks for the DNA inside the nucleus to replicate.

So, as far as I'm concerned, a big up for the team!

[astroman]

well Atom, let's see it from another perspective which you're more familiar with...
safety in airplane control systems
what do they use and for what reason ?
why don't they just plugin a standard CPU ?

because it's impossible to predict each and every state the processing core can go through
which is essential on a system the lifes of hundreds or even thousands depends on
that said about a chip - a primitive device that can just take one of two states

they CANNOT EVEN handle that simple thing
let's simplify somewhat and consider the brain similiar to a computer
but that CPU is not coded in 2 states
instead proteines are capable of 'encoding' in a complexity no computer can even come close to.

that team you speak of has established the technology for fiddling with stuff that just wasn't made for humans
because they are incapable to handle it
proven by the fact that they cannot guarantee the functionality of a primitive on/off device
that about that

whatever 'they' will tell about progress and 'advantages', the military will be the first standing in line
probably the sh*t was funded by them anyway, as war is the proverbial father of all things...
and greed is man's strongest emotion, both in cash and fame

mind you: the same people bombed Hiroshima and sent out a documentation team right into the center of radiation
they didn't know the consequences either...

cheers, Tom

[siriusbliss]

Like the big pharmaceuticals getting patents on DNA, it's all going to backfire at some point.
Yes, all these guys did was basically manufacture a pseudo-virus.

Meanwhile cures for many major diseases such as Cancer already exist, but are being suppressed because it would collapse a multi-million dollar health 'industry'.

We all know that our preferred form of synthesis is Scope Modular anyways, right?

[garyb]

astro, that's it.


seen the packages yet?

[braincell]

All my life I heard that only god can create life. That turned out to be yet another one of the many lies that theists have inflicted on us. To be fair, synthetic life still requires a natural cell wall to begin but I consider DNA to be the important part. In any event, it's really nice to upset the theists. I can't wait until earthlings prove to the aliens how inferior human intelligence is when they try to convert the aliens to christianity.

[garyb]

what do you mean? do you think these guys invented anything? they simply mimicked processes already in existance(which IS a good trick of observation). your thinking process is flawed.

[braincell]

This was a test to see if cells with artificial DNA could be made to reproduce. The next step is to make designer DNA which seems now to be quite possible in the near future. It's no longer just boasting for them to say they can do it.

[garyb]

hooray! people who don't even understand the WHY are going to start making messes.

duh, isn't this a little bit more dangerous than co2?

[Mr Arkadin]

Well as long as braincell is first in the queue for vaccines I'm all for it. I'll keep missing my 'shot' appointment though.

[netguyjoel]

[Cochise]

Isn't it the ultimate step in gmo tech?
Which has common points with viruses too, afaik...

Bah! Though a synth virus, the only one I might like is the Access..
And I still like it solid state.

[braincell]

It's going to be good for very efficient solar cells. Plants use a special protein for this, also we haven't mastered converting cellulose to portable fuel, a domesticated bacteria with designer genes would be good for this.

Continuing on our current path of destroying the environment would be much more risky. We have to try new things as people are not going to stop having babies. That would be the easy way but they are much too selfish for that.

[valis]

It's going to be good for very efficient solar cells. Plants use a special protein for this, also we haven't mastered converting cellulose to portable fuel, a domesticated bacteria with designer genes would be good for this.

Continuing on our current path of destroying the environment would be much more risky. We have to try new things as people are not going to stop having babies. That would be the easy way but they are much too selfish for that.

How do you know these new things might not also destroy the environment?

Not that I think all 'progress' should come to a halt, but it's an oft repeated observation by the 'higher' thinkers and seekers across time that our abilities for 'science' seems to often outstrip our abilities for 'ethics'. Methinks you're trying to turn that observation on its head, missing the point...

[garyb]

he hates people. most of all he hates babies. he likes kool-aid, though.

[dawman]

Being an Avant Garde musician is often under appreciated.
Empty tip jar, no trim, angry neighbors.
I do understand and sympathize.