Thread: The world's first synthetic life form has been created.

Dr Venter's team developed a new code based on the four letters of the genetic code, G, T, C and A, that allowed them to draw on the whole alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks to write the watermarks. Anyone who cracks the code is invited to email an address written into the DNA.

those badasses

defining moment in history~

This is a dream isnt it... i betcha... *does reality check* wow its real!

Anyways wow thats madness..
Only one thing i can think of... Religion ppl going crazy

I don't quite know whether to praise this, or start stockpiling weapons in a basement somewhere...

Lol. Seriously, though. This is amazing news.

"Venter had already applied for patents on more than 300 genes, raising concerns that the company might claim intellectual rights to the building blocks of life."

That's just not right.

Venter is the master of hyping his own research.

I don't know, I bet Henry Markram of the Blue Brain Project could give Venter a run for his money.

very interesting. I applaud the efforts and cant wait to see what uses come to fruition. Im especially excited about the fuel and medical implications. But, does it really count as wholly synthetic when they had to put it in another cell? Or is it more synthetic like an android would be synthetic?

I thought the same thing. I think calling it an android might be a better description, but I guess it kind of boils down to semantics for the most part.

Originally Posted by tkdyo

very interesting. I applaud the efforts and cant wait to see what uses come to fruition. Im especially excited about the fuel and medical implications. But, does it really count as wholly synthetic when they had to put it in another cell? Or is it more synthetic like an android would be synthetic?

Originally Posted by Catbus

I thought the same thing. I think calling it an android might be a better description, but I guess it kind of boils down to semantics for the most part.

If I'm not mistaken, the cell is like a computer and what they put into the cell was the code (like an OS) so.. I don't know.. o.O

On another note, this is really awesome. Some Christians are worried that Vetner is playing God. If you ask me, we kicked God off the throne when we cloned the first vertebrate in 1952. But that's just my opinion.

Originally Posted by Jeff777

On another note, this is really awesome. Some Christians are worried that Vetner is playing God. If you ask me, we kicked God off the throne when we cloned the first vertebrate in 1952. But that's just my opinion.

lol yeah, idk how playing god is even a criticism. Even if you were religious...people have been playing god ever since they said they knew what he meant *shrugs*

Hehe, kicking god of its thrown is somewhat like man killing god. You're the scientific Nietzsche.

But I think the criticism of playing god is often just a metaphor to screwing with nature.
What I mean is that even many non-religous people object to things like this on some
level, maybe even with the wording of "playing god".

I don't know about you guys, but I'm seriously hoping we humans perfect the art of playing god.

I wouldn't mind playing god.

TED just posted a talk by Venter:
http://www.ted.com/talks/craig_vente...etic_life.html

This is very interesting, thanks for the TED link.

I think it's very exicting, a huge breakthrough. I'm not so sure about the whole 'playing god' thing. Do we want to advance in this field or don't we? I think that as long as it's all under control we'll be OK.

Originally Posted by no-Name

Dr Venter's team developed a new code based on the four letters of the genetic code, G, T, C and A, that allowed them to draw on the whole alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks to write the watermarks. Anyone who cracks the code is invited to email an address written into the DNA.

those badasses

defining moment in history~

Yeah, I was more intrigued by the idea of the hidden code in the genome of their creation then by what they are calling "synthetic life".
There's nothing synthetic in that cell. Sure, the information is man-made, but, physically, everything in that cell is pure natural wetware.

Originally Posted by SnakeCharmer

Yeah, I was more intrigued by the idea of the hidden code in the genome of their creation then by what they are calling "synthetic life".
There's nothing synthetic in that cell. Sure, the information is man-made, but, physically, everything in that cell is pure natural wetware.

Why go through the struggle of synthesizing cells? With this technique, they can make cells do essentially anything they want. When programmers make cool new software, like games with impressive graphics and AI, you don't go like "Yeah, but the processors are doing all the work hurr" either.

Originally Posted by Marvo

Why go through the struggle of synthesizing cells?

Because it's an interesting scientific and technical challenge: can we make artificial life?

Originally Posted by Marvo

With this technique, they can make cells do essentially anything they want.

I'm well aware of advantages of this technique. I'm not arguing its usefulness, I'm saying it's unoriginal and over-hyped.

Originally Posted by Marvo

When programmers make cool new software, like games with impressive graphics and AI, you don't go like "Yeah, but the processors are doing all the work hurr" either.

When programmers make cool new software (which is basically not new, it's just a slight modification of old software), you don't go "They've created a new way of computing, hurr"

That depends really. Making a new architecture that works with bytes of different size can be considered a different way of computing.

Indeed, what they did wasn't original, but they are the first to do it, ever. You could say the same thing about synthesizing cells, once we are capable of doing that.

Where's the genetic code? I wanna crack it!

Also, can't believe the religious idiots actually got a mention in this article.
I mean, you're reading that they've 'synthesised' life. And then you see some religious nut get a say in it like they're a fucking authority on the subject.

Get fucked already you crazy morons! We don't need you holding back our progress anymore!

Originally Posted by Marvo

When programmers make cool new software, like games with impressive graphics and AI, you don't go like "Yeah, but the processors are doing all the work hurr" either.

but after a certain point the processors cant keep up with the advancement in coding. Then they DO need new processors

Originally Posted by Marvo

That depends really. Making a new architecture that works with bytes of different size can be considered a different way of computing.

If you are referring to the code they inserted (their names, those quotes and an URL), it's not operational in any way. Comparing it to computer code, it's like having a coded message inside a comment. You can download the genome sequence of their organism and try out some code cracking to find out how they did it.

Originally Posted by tkdyo

but after a certain point the processors cant keep up with the advancement in coding. Then they DO need new processors

The CPU can always keep up and emulate ANYTHING. It just takes longer.