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Scientists Create First Living Organism With 'Artificial' DNA

Luftwaffe said:
Excellent, nothing gets me more excited than innovation and invention. There is nothing else in the world that showcases the raw might that is humanity. Humanity may now be like God soon, who knows? Be it 10000 years or 1000, it is my hope for us to become omnipotent.
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:roll:
 
RabidAlpaca said:
You posted that idiotic verse because you wanted to imply that this would anger God and he'd bring his wrath down on us like he supposedly did with the tower of babel. It's pure anti-science bull****.

Keep living in ignorance. Carry on.
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You really do have trouble with the concepts of "respect for others," and that Science is dispassionate, do you not? In other words, you attempt to defend the concept scientific orthodoxy (which has long been an impediment to the advance of science, see: Galileo, see: Einstein,) by the expression of emotionality, which is antithetical to the concept of Science (see: Vulcan.)

In point of fact, in the last century or so, we've seen not God, but political leaders bring down mass destruction upon Humanity through the application of knowledge gained through the use of Science, and by presenting various forms of bigotry, pugilism, political constructs and social orders as "scientific." God has been able to take a break from the wrath business.

And if you'd care to apply a little thought, you'll soon discover that a very great deal of what passes for Science today, is really not, especially where human motivations and political aspirations are part of the mix. AGW, for instance.
 
digsbe said:
Why? It's fascinating and could have potential benefits when it comes to creating biologics and research.
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You're right, however, there's always another side to things (pros vs. cons). The negative aspects of this are, naturally, unforeseen consequences and this technology going over into the realm of the military.
 
Demon of Light said:
I get why you feel that way, obviously, but I think people who are so enthusiastic about this sort of thing are thinking too much about themselves and not about the general impact on society. What do you think would happen if people could suddenly live forever? You can't very well have people making babies at their current pace, not unless only certain people would be allowed this privilege of radically extended lifespans.
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Well, to my understanding actual immortality would be next to impossible.

There's just general every day risks that can occur, there's disease that's possible, etc. I'm mostly thinking about aging. And even then, from the little I've researched in it the thought is that at most you're realistically simply adding a a few extra decades onto life.

As to "certain people would be allowed", no...but I'm not the utopian type that thinks everything should just be given to people. I can't imagine whatever efforts that occur in this regard is simply going to be the cost of a pack of gum at the local 7-11. To my understanding, even today, the life expectency in various countries widely differs. For example, average life expectency in the US is 5 years greater than that of China.

That's no small thing mind you, but it's far from living forever.

The birth rate has been dropping steadily in the United States at the very least. Less people are having kids, or are having kids at an older age. I would be shocked if such a trend didn't significantly continue if we managed to extend life by and extra 20 years. The life expectency in South Africa is 20 years less than China.

I'm relatively confident about man's ability to adapt to their environment and to the situations at hand. Undoubtably, there would be pitfalls that would come from a potential short term substantial growth in the average life expectency in most developed nations. However, by and large, I think many of those pitfalls are able to be overcome.
 
Holy crap.

I saw the title and I was not real impressed... I assumed they were just talking about creating a new organism from lab manufactured DNA - something that's kind already been done, and not surprising we can do.

But the real story is amazing! The 'artificial' DNA has totally different bases - its completely foreign to actual life, and could potentially be an impressive step towards tons of stuff - I think drug delivery immediately - but potentially lots of other uses as well.

This genetic engineering stuff will really change the world and the face of civilization forever in a century or so... if the science deniers allow our civilization to prosper long enough to make it that far.
 
Zyphlin said:
Well, to my understanding actual immortality would be next to impossible.

There's just general every day risks that can occur, there's disease that's possible, etc. I'm mostly thinking about aging. And even then, from the little I've researched in it the thought is that at most you're realistically simply adding a a few extra decades onto life.

As to "certain people would be allowed", no...but I'm not the utopian type that thinks everything should just be given to people. I can't imagine whatever efforts that occur in this regard is simply going to be the cost of a pack of gum at the local 7-11. To my understanding, even today, the life expectency in various countries widely differs. For example, average life expectency in the US is 5 years greater than that of China.

That's no small thing mind you, but it's far from living forever.

The birth rate has been dropping steadily in the United States at the very least. Less people are having kids, or are having kids at an older age. I would be shocked if such a trend didn't significantly continue if we managed to extend life by and extra 20 years. The life expectency in South Africa is 20 years less than China.

I'm relatively confident about man's ability to adapt to their environment and to the situations at hand. Undoubtably, there would be pitfalls that would come from a potential short term substantial growth in the average life expectency in most developed nations. However, by and large, I think many of those pitfalls are able to be overcome.
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You can't prevent accidents or unexpected cataclysms sure. However you can realistically expect, given enough time to allow for technological advances, to prevent biological death caused by frailties in our form (cancer, neural degeneration, heart disease, etc) and infections/viruses. This would conceivably add thousands of years onto a lifespan assuming you didn't trip and fall on the sidewalk.
 
Imagine living 750 years on earth.

Does that really sound good to you?
 
Removable Mind said:
Scientists Create First Living Organism With 'Artificial' DNA

The fun begins...
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I read about this a few weeks ago and saw a documentary about it... If I remember correctly the mystery DNA sequence is "E" or maybe "C" - either way it is still pretty interesting. EDIT: now that I think about it the mystery DNA is "X" or "Z"

Either way - I don't know if breeding "mutant" organisms is a good idea considering some nefarious clown will realize eventually that this technology could potentially create biological weapons, that or mutate and create a disease/virus that we would have no understanding of and which could be potentially extremely lethal.

I'm pro-science and pro-learning but sometimes curiosity kills the cat.
 
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Erod said:
Imagine living 750 years on earth.

Does that really sound good to you?
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That would be horrible.

100 years is long enough for me. Not to mention I have met some centennials and they're more than happy with the opportunity to have lived for 100+ years - they're also very tired and aren't afraid to die.

IMO, I think after 100 years these centennials have gained so much wisdom and learned so much that there is nothing left for them to do but to teach via philosophy.

Besides, the world would get so flipping strange if people could live to 750.

Staying 30 for a century would be extremely bizarre.
 
Oftencold said:

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Genesis 11:6
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Sorry, I didn't get that memo. But, they have imagined how to create life. And I sayth..."Thats A Goodth Thingth"
 
Erod said:
Imagine living 750 years on earth.

Does that really sound good to you?
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Yes. It sounds incredible. Life is wondrous, the Universe is full of mysteries yet to be plumbed, and there is so much yet to be experienced.
 
Demon of Light said:
I get why you feel that way, obviously, but I think people who are so enthusiastic about this sort of thing are thinking too much about themselves and not about the general impact on society. What do you think would happen if people could suddenly live forever? You can't very well have people making babies at their current pace, not unless only certain people would be allowed this privilege of radically extended lifespans.
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Unless things change quite a bit before such a breakthrough occurs, obviously those who can afford it will get it first.

Any number of things could happen from that point.
Those with longer lives become our ruthless overlords?
Overpopulation causes wars that cause under-population?
We find some way to support vastly increased population?

It's kinda open-ended really.
 
ChezC3 said:
Currently scientists can't make sense of all the data coming in from genomes sequenced in our own DNA and we still have some 10% left to go. Because 85-95% of our DNA appears to be useless(much like our appendix was thought to be until recently, a study has been put up for review showing that it is a storage container of sorts for bacteria for our stomachs to draw from kind of like a reset when it has been attacked by food borne illnesses or other viruses.) that doesn't mean it is and it would be a prudent and wise course of action to thoroughly get a grasp on that before you go playing connect the chromosomes that you synthetically developed.
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It'll happen one way or another. Some bad things will occur, some good.

In the end we'll be horrified at what some mother****ers did, then take the good parts of their work and save lives with it.


Weird, that....I realize that I do have one near-religious belief - that humans will survive whatever we try to/accidentally do to ourselves.
 
ChezC3 said:
Change is inevitable.

Playing around with things you can't possibly hope to fully understand?

Stupid.
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Bull**** we can understand. The search for truth will eventually bring the truth. And this truth is one step closer to being discovered.
 
Oftencold said:
Hysterics much?

If you'll read with a little more attention, and a little less spleen, you'll see that the passage states that Man can do just about anything he imagines.

You see how different the world looks when we're calm, and respectful of others?

And that section of the Book is closer to 3000 years old.

You might be interested to know, also that a fully integrated personality is quite capable of reading both the Bible, and a tome on recent theories in physics.

Further, Science is a tool for the pursuit of knowledge. It has not the slightest interest in "improving the world" and will object not at all, any more than would Algebra if it is employed to sterilize the world. Also, yet again, you confuse Technology and Science, which are two different things. To aid you in achieving clarity, you should be wary of any article which says that Science accomplished something rather that Science or people employing Science discovered something. You see?

Science never built a machine, improved a crop or developed a cure. Certainly, knowledge gained through the use of Science aided the inverters, investors, technologists, industrialists and so forth who created such things through the employment of such things as Technologically based projects, industrialization, and commerce. Even kooks like Tesla and had their place.

Carry on.
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Science is a systematic search for a truth using observation, creating hypotheses, testing hypotheses, and concluding based on the evidence found. So yes you're right that science has never created a machine itself, but scientists have created machines before, and technology can never be improved or created without the advent of science, so really there is no point to this post as you essentially just regurgitated **** people already know.

Science did develop cures, it may not have literally developed the cure itself but the research conducted to search for the truth has led to cures so one can argue that science itself has helped develop cures due to it being part of that process. With that in mind it could have also developed everything else we know and generally love today, just not literally create it. Simply discovered it.
 
Demon of Light said:
I get why you feel that way, obviously, but I think people who are so enthusiastic about this sort of thing are thinking too much about themselves and not about the general impact on society. What do you think would happen if people could suddenly live forever? You can't very well have people making babies at their current pace, not unless only certain people would be allowed this privilege of radically extended lifespans.
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Population control simply at that point. And biological immortality clearly =/= immortality as people think of. Crime will still be a thing, wars will still be a thing, and those people if never replaced would begin to form a massive dent in the human population.

Plus once we put our foot on Mars to colonize we would have another "discovery of the new worlds" where a tiny ant (us) has to populate an entirely new land, except this time there aren't even people or animals already there. Get to baby making fellows :p
 
Sherman123 said:
Yes. It sounds incredible. Life is wondrous, the Universe is full of mysteries yet to be plumbed, and there is so much yet to be experienced.
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And you're going to look like death eating crackers.

Do you have to work until you're 650 to get Social Security? And what will the world be like with 125 billion people?
 
Erod said:
And you're going to look like death eating crackers.

Do you have to work until you're 650 to get Social Security? And what will the world be like with 125 billion people?
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It's funny because for the scientific developments that will lead to "over-population" there will also be developments that lead to colonization of space which would address said "over-population."

Brilliant.
 
Luftwaffe said:
It's funny because for the scientific developments that will lead to "over-population" there will also be developments that lead to colonization of space which would address said "over-population."

Brilliant.
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So I'll be 700 years old, look like Yoda, and live on a moon near Alpha Centauri for 200 years.

Thanks, I'll pass.
 
Erod said:
So I'll be 700 years old, look like Yoda, and live on a moon near Alpha Centauri for 200 years.

Thanks, I'll pass.
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Sure, no one would be obliged to get the treatments and augmentations that allow for longer lives. I just know I'll accept them. Also, at around 300 years you would still probably look like 20-30 because what happens is the aging process gets slowed, so 100 would be like being a teenager today and so on and so forth. With absolute biological immortality because cells always constantly divide at a healthy pace theoretically I believe one should never look of old age.

That being said is of course if one wishes for the augmentations. Go ahead and die in 80-90 years bud, not like I would give a **** when I'm 200 ;)
 
Luftwaffe said:
Sure, no one would be obliged to get the treatments and augmentations that allow for longer lives. I just know I'll accept them. Also, at around 300 years you would still probably look like 20-30 because what happens is the aging process gets slowed, so 100 would be like being a teenager today and so on and so forth. With absolute biological immortality because cells always constantly divide at a healthy pace theoretically I believe one should never look of old age.

That being said is of course if one wishes for the augmentations. Go ahead and die in 80-90 years bud, not like I would give a **** when I'm 200 ;)
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I guess when you don't believe in God or heaven, this is what you have to hope for.
 
Dude! Living is awesome. Who wouldn't want more of it? If I had reason to believe I could live for a few hundred years or more, I would save every penny I could and live a few hundred years in luxury
 
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