[extropy-chat] Science on verge of new 'Creation'

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

>From SciScoop:  A must-read article out today, "Science on verge of new 'Creation'" quotes scientists who say they are finally ready to try their hand at creating life. It's certainly true that we are tinkering with something very powerful here... but there's no difference between what we do here and what humans have always done when we invented fire, transistors and ways to split the atom. The more powerful technology you unleash, the more careful you have to be. The ability to make new forms of life from scratch--molecular living systems from chemicals we get from a chemical supply store--is going to have a profound impact on society.Scientists now believe that, with a critical mass of people interested in the field and some recent breakthrough discoveries, it may be possible to create the first artificial unit of life in the next 5 to 10 years. If they succeed, humanity will enter a new age of "living technology," where harnessing the power of life to spontaneously adapt to
 complex situations could solve problems that now defy modern engineering. Artificial life now seems so attainable that the number of U.S. labs working in the field jumped from about 10 four decades ago to more than 100 today.
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