The creation of the first 'synthetic' life. Some hail it as a triumph, others as a rash step into an unknown - and potentially dangerous - new stage for humanity.
An article from the Economist explains: "Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith, the two American biologists who unravelled the first DNA sequence of a living organism (a bacterium) in 1995, have made a bacterium that has an artificial genome—creating a living creature with no ancestor (see article)."
This development is tremendously fascinating, and tremendously important. But, what I find most interesting is the designation of the bacteria as 'synthetic'. To be certain, the designation 'artificial' or 'synthetic' is well deserved. Indeed, the new bacteria has been engineered, and did not come about by process of natural selection. However, I see the creation of this life-form not as the creation of something artificial, but rather, a signifier that humanity has taken another step in the 'natural' progression of the human race towards Godhood.
Life began on Earth some billion years ago. We are matter and energy like the rest of the universe. However, what is special about 'life' is this: the matter and energy from which we are made is arranged according to certain information systems. These information systems also facilitate the reproduction of themselves, as well as the passing and modification of information to antecedent generations of life.
Current levels of complexity have taken billions of years to realize. The brain, that which gives us the ability to reason, design, and create artificial life, was formed by natural selection. However, interestingly enough, the development of the brain has allowed our species to circumvent the process of natural selection. For example, the capability to understand our environment and think creatively has facilitated the creation of civilization. From the first primitive tools to agriculture and animal domestication, the brain, created by natural selection, has allowed us to master our environment and make life easier. The inventions and ideas of countless individuals have coalesced into what we know now as civilization.
Since our brains are a product of natural selection, it is tremendously interesting that with our brains we can manipulate the world around us to such an extent to derail the process of natural selection. For example, because of my asthma and poor eyesight, I would probably be selected out of the gene pool if it were not for modern medicine. In fact, most people on the planet would probably not even exist were it not for the development of agriculture - amongst countless other immeasurably important inventions in the past that have allowed for the existence of more and more humans on this planet.
Getting back to the creation of 'synthetic' life, it can be discerned that, yet again, our brains have allowed us to modify reality to our benefit. We can use synthetic life to do all sorts of wonderful things, from cleaning our environment to cleaning our clogged arteries.
As our mastery of the universe continues to progress, we will be able to turn science fiction into reality. And, I don't think this is a bad thing. Any development in technology can be used for good or evil, and as long as we continue to use our brains, I don't think we will off ourselves just yet.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment