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Do you think we'll ever be able to create life?

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MONKEY
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28 Aug 2010, 9:35 am

They have made the synthetic cell, but I don't think we would be able to make anything more complex than that.


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Wombat
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29 Aug 2010, 12:01 am

MONKEY wrote:
They have made the synthetic cell, but I don't think we would be able to make anything more complex than that.


We will see. My army of killer clones isn't quite ready, but soon........ :twisted:

No, seriously, whatever we can do now we will do 1000 times better in a few years.
Organ transplants and cloning were a dream just a couple of decades ago and now we do them every day.



fernando
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29 Aug 2010, 12:22 am

Depends on what you call life. If you mean creating a consciousness with feelings and will power by assembling non-biological materials then yes. I have a few ideas already :twisted:


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Wombat
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29 Aug 2010, 12:46 am

fernando wrote:
Depends on what you call life. If you mean creating a consciousness with feelings and will power by assembling non-biological materials then yes. I have a few ideas already :twisted:


It's life Jim, but not as we know it. :D



Sand
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29 Aug 2010, 3:08 am

Creating life is not something supernatural. It is complex and no doubt here is much more to be understood but that understanding is rapidly coming about and it is only a matter of time before enough is known to accomplish the task.



iamnotaparakeet
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29 Aug 2010, 3:33 am

On Sims 3, click above both the wife and husband and select option "try for baby".



nikki191
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02 Sep 2010, 7:27 am

I would say that yes its only a matter of time but it does raise some ethical issues.. If a sythetic creature is created from scratch and is trademarked and copywrited, is that same creature covered by animal welfare laws? is it an animal? is it merely a product? what about for something much more advanced.. the replicants in Bladerunner for example.. designer slaves



ruveyn
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02 Sep 2010, 7:52 am

nikki191 wrote:
I would say that yes its only a matter of time but it does raise some ethical issues.. If a sythetic creature is created from scratch and is trademarked and copywrited, is that same creature covered by animal welfare laws? is it an animal? is it merely a product? what about for something much more advanced.. the replicants in Bladerunner for example.. designer slaves


It has already been one by Craig Ventor and his team.

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ScratchMonkey
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03 Sep 2010, 4:06 am

Self-replicating software already exists. Put a copy in memory and run it and it will expand to fill available memory with copies of itself. More sophisticated versions can compete with rivals.

In thinking about this, you might want to look into the Technological Singularity popularized by Vernor Vinge.



iamnotaparakeet
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03 Sep 2010, 4:48 am

ScratchMonkey wrote:
Self-replicating software already exists. Put a copy in memory and run it and it will expand to fill available memory with copies of itself. More sophisticated versions can compete with rivals.

In thinking about this, you might want to look into the Technological Singularity popularized by Vernor Vinge.


Behaving like a lifeform does not entail actually being a lifeform. As it is even most AIs are way too predictable, even the ones which are designed to adapt, but such a program you mention only fills all memory with ad naseum copies of itself.



ScratchMonkey
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03 Sep 2010, 5:10 am

I think like an engineer: What is required to satisfy the customer? "Life" is way too loose a specification. I need something more concrete to design to.



iamnotaparakeet
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03 Sep 2010, 5:44 am

ScratchMonkey wrote:
I think like an engineer: What is required to satisfy the customer? "Life" is way too loose a specification. I need something more concrete to design to.


It's easy enough to merely do that in such an environment of scholarship which exists today in the vacuum where education used to exist, isn't it?