First Designed and Built Living Cell

George Rebane

By now you’ve probably heard that Man has been able to mess with some snippets of DNA and fabricate a new double helix that when inserted into an ‘empty’ (of nucleus) cell body, the thing became a living and self-replicating cell.  While not the real deal of starting from scratch with a bunch of amino acids, it is a real milestone in our march toward the Singularity.  The feat was accomplished by the J. Craig Venter Institute and reported here.  Go to the source, because most of the journalists reporting on this will only confuse you.

You might remember that Venter founded and ran the private enterprise that was one of the two teams which were the first to sequence the entire human genome.  Now there are several efforts out there competing to start designer life.  If nothing else, it will prove that intelligent designers can originate life.  And stay tuned, because this technology will change (probably all) life on earth for good or ill.

Comments

[Mikey McD]

Because we CAN does not mean we SHOULD

[RL Crabb]

I want to see a genetically engineered team of Giants that can finally win us a World Series. Apparently, steroids aren't enough.

[George Rebane]

'SHOULD' is a tough one Mikey. But because we CAN does mean that we WILL. Given that should guide our discourse.

Bob, my take on all this 'doping' and other forms of athletic enhancement is that we should just accept it, and set up an 'unlimited' or 'unfettered' classification for athletics. Ingest and/or implant anything you like.

For the purists, we should maintain the current classification of hyper-ventilating at every extra aspirin that passes an athlete's lips.

I predict that in very short order, everyone will be watching the competition in the 'unlimited' leagues, and the purist athletics will suffer the fate of professional women's lacrosse.

But that is just the beginning. The R&D into human performance enhancement that such moneyed competition promotes will quickly trickle down and improve the quality of all our lives. Let the games start!

[RL Crabb]

Right on, George. And you can bet that with super-enhanced athletes, bred specifically for competition, the Roman gladiators will seem as tame as women's lacrosse.

[Michael Anderson]

RL Crabb, I ask you most humbly that you stick to your original proposition: GIVE US A GIANTS PENNANT!

If robots are necessary, so be it. In fact, I think Robotic Giants would be a great fit for the Silicon Valley, if it means that the San Francisco Giants finally win a gol durn Western Division Championship and then go on to take the World Series.

Also Singularity, as has been previously discussed in this forum, might be necessary to cover the constantly lacking SF Giants offense. Where are the bats?!?