creating aritificial life?

Question

Yahoo news says that in 3-10 years we will create artificial life. They say it will be a "big deal." I am not sure why. Maybe the first few days after the scientists of the world have VERIFIED that artificial life was created, but then what?

It is a one cell life form...

It probably will be years and years before we develop it into anything that walks, etc.

I think we have a better chance of having aliens land and become our neighbors, or robots like on I-robot, being built, before artificial life is anything more than a 'speck in a lab.'

What do you think?

Answer 1

One day a group of scientists approached God to let Him know that they had
become sufficiently advanced in knowledge and technology, and that He was no
longer needed. "We can now create life without you," they told Him. God told
them "Go ahead and show me." The scientists then got a pile of dirt from which
to make a living being. "No you don't," God said, "you go get your own dirt."

Jonathan Wells:

"Materialists predict they will create "artificial life" in a test tube in the next 3 to 10 years. I have a counter-prediction: They will succeed only by re-defining "artificial" and "life." For example, "artificial" will cover any human manipulation of an existing organism -- so replacing a few genes or enzymes in an already-living cell will count as creating "artificial life." And "life" will be anything that can undergo "Darwinian evolution" -- such as an artificially engineered system of molecules -- even though it can be sustained only in a carefully controlled laboratory environment.

But a free-living cell? I don't think so. We are still many years and many discoveries away from understanding the nature of life even in prokaryotes. And Darwinists -- with their attitude that they already know all the important things there are to know about life -- will not be the ones to
make the necessary discoveries.

That's my prediction."

Answer 2

I agree with you 100%. When i read that article I saw right off the bat how misleading those statements are. To me it seems that the minute they started with test tube babies that could just a well have been called artificial life. Scientists like to make a big noise with their work hoping for the dollars that come with such sensational headlines. NASA and the scientific community have always done one thing very well and that's hold on to their jobs.

Answer 3

If it is the one I am thinking of it is not exactly artificial life. It is taking a bacteria and replacing the chromosomes until you reduce it to its absolute minimum size to survive. That should make them easier to control and potentially better for performing specific functions.

Answer 4

if we can create life it would be the biggest break-through since the discovery of gravity. we could effectively clone, cure disease, the possibilities are endless.