Opinions on Article

[Thurnez Isa]

Been catching up on my reading today and came across this. It brought up some interesting questions ala Frankenstein, Moby Dick...
Im interested in what people's immediate reactions are upon reading.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/science/3110/creating_a_cell%3A_science_plays_god/

[Cramulus]

I say BRING ON SYNTHETIC LIFE

the "old rules" do not apply anymore. Our society has completely transformed itself from tip to tail every generation. Every cell in the collective body has died and been replaced, except for a few ancient ganglia which serve as moral anchors. If you ask me, we should leave those anchors at the beach.

Asimov (among others) wanted us to resist what he called the "Frankenstein Complex", our deep seated fear of our own creations. Yes, things do occasionally get all Jurassic Park on us. But more often than not, they get all Louis Pasteur on us. Since this development isn't unethical in of itself, I don't see what the problem is. And if/when they develop a strain of bacteria that only feeds on cancer cells, you can bet that oldschool god-fearing morality is going to get tossed out like a broken hymen.

[Doktor Howl]

I say BRING ON SYNTHETIC LIFE

the "old rules" do not apply anymore. Our society has completely transformed itself from tip to tail every generation. Every cell in the collective body has died and been replaced, except for a few ancient ganglia which serve as moral anchors. If you ask me, we should leave those anchors at the beach.

Asimov (among others) wanted us to resist what he called the "Frankenstein Complex", our deep seated fear of our own creations. Yes, things do occasionally get all Jurassic Park on us. But more often than not, they get all Louis Pasteur on us. Since this development isn't unethical in of itself, I don't see what the problem is. And if/when they develop a strain of bacteria that only feeds on cancer cells, you can bet that oldschool god-fearing morality is going to get tossed out like a broken hymen.

Pessimist.

[LMNO]

Cram just wants to fuck a robot.

[Doktor Howl]

Cram just wants to fuck a robot.

So do I.

[Cramulus]

SCIENCE WILL GIVE US THE PERFECT GIRLFRIENDS


IT ALREADY GAVE US 10+ HOUR ERECTIONS, WTF IS LEFT?

[Triple Zero]

My immediate reaction is, why bring "God" into this?

[Doktor Howl]

My immediate reaction is, why bring "God" into this?

Why not?  It makes the debate so much more lulzy.

[Cainad (dec.)]

My immediate reaction is, why bring "God" into this?

Because people are uncreative and insist on constantly bringing the conversation back to old topics that have already been rehashed a billion times.

[Thurnez Isa]

My immediate reaction is, why bring "God" into this?

for me it's the use is in a symbolic sense only...

but rd.org where I got the article from is a religious website.

[Kai]

I want to see if they can do more than transplant synthetic DNA and get a cell, now. I want them to literally, fill a synth phopholipid bilayer with water and ions, plug a whole bunch of designer protein channels into the membrane, produce whole mitochondria from scratch, and THEN insert the DNA.

Right now, all they have is a Synth DNA transplant.

[Jenne]

Anyone who's had to see or feel what it's like to need the generation of cells to keep living (either their own body or a loved one's) knows that research like this is crucial to some humans' survival.  I certainly became much more interested in stem cell research after my husband got aplastic anemia, and because there's no real blood donor or bone marrow registry for Afghans, and he has no sibling that's 100% from both parents (only half-sibs on both sides), he was gonna be FUCKED if he needed a transplant.  Luckily for us, that hasn't come to pass (yet--he still may get leukemia as a side effect of going into remission, and he's STILL not off his chemo).

The whole "playing God" issue is annoying in the extreme when you consider the extension of life for your kids' father.  Science is there despite (or because of, if you're a religious type) God/Allah/Yahweh/Zeus/etc.  Discovery and creation DO have multiple uses, and usually those who use the laws to prevent that same discovery and creation are using other discoveries and creations for war and destruction elsewhere.  That's been my experience, anyway--it seems all that seems new and wonderful in the world, from drugs to gadgets, has been tried out in the military first.

So, mark me down for wanting this process to go further, faster.  Because we're starting to believe that the issue with my husband's genetic, and if they have a better cure by the time my sons are his age, all the better.

[Cain]

I BELIEVE IN EATING MY MEAT RAW AND SLEEPING IN A TREE.  ANYTHING ELSE IS UNNATURAL.

[Don Coyote]

I BELIEVE IN EATING MY MEAT RAW AND SLEEPING IN A TREE.  ANYTHING ELSE IS UNNATURAL.

But I like eating red meat raw.