Some fancy pants scientists at Harvard, working in their crazy scientist laboratory, have created an artificial life form.
Now, some people would say that they only succeeded in altering an existing bacteria by injecting a human designed (there’s got to be some question about that as well) DNA molecule into it. Close enough, I say.
It’s only the beginning. In the article I read, they discussed creating life forms which would convert algae into petroleum. They also talked about new foods, new medicines and good stuff like that. They mentioned, on the negative side, the possibility of new biological weapons.
All of that is going to happen. There will be incremental progress, and constant objections, but the good stuff will get through eventually because there is a need and a market for it, and the ethical objections, which overall are great, are easy to sweep aside in each individual instance. The slippery slope thing.
The bad stuff will get through because there are a lot of evil bastards in the world, and they’ve got the power.
Here’s my prediction, though, for what it’s worth: by the end of this century, we will have created a species which is superior, mentally and physically, to our own.
In some ways, it’s a beautiful thought. We have truly become as Gods.
On the other hand, it is a horrifying thought. If we don’t destroy ourselves with a nuclear war, destroy the earth in an ecological disaster or go extinct in an epidemic, we may just render ourselves obsolete.
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