Life As We Know It Nearly Created in Lab

reply to post by fnIrish

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Cheers to you as well. But we aren't talking about that, we are merely talking about a scientific experiment that is helping show how life may have started on Earth (creator or no creator).

From Wikipedia:



It sounds frighteningly as if they have created a virus, or something on its way to being a virus, that can replicate itself OUTSIDE of a host cell and can probably survive in a very inhospitable reducing atmosphere under high heat conditions. This does not seem like a good idea to me.

I say this is not a good thing.

[edit on 12-1-2009 by OuttaHere]

reply to post by 44drake44

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No not really. We used to think of an atom as resembling a solar system... with a nucleus in the middle and electrons orbiting it but that is early 20th century science which developed into a popularl myth.

reply to post by saint4God

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That is faulty logic.

Sure you can't create matter but lets say for example we made a "mini-earth experiement." Let's take a virtual earth and program it with certain contraints/parameters. From the perspective of this earth's inhabitants we would seem "godly," not constrained by the same laws they are. Little do they realize that we are constrained by other things.

It's not life? Why? Maybe we need to change the definition of life? Or create a word for something that comes close to life, but doesn't quite make it? Viruses would seem to fall under the same category.

[edit on 12-1-2009 by GrayFox]

You could make this an on going experiment to go on for generations ahead.

But i'm wondering where religion comes into all this?

This story will make Christians mad.

Well put!! that is exactly the kind of imaginative thinking I am experiencing after reading this article! The possibilities in this are just endless The amount of knowledge that can be gained from advances in this area just boggle my mind, I love science




It's not a virus, even though it is self replicating outside a host organism, the fact remains that this varies do to it's random "choices" a virus follows a set course.

[edit on 12-1-2009 by alyosha1981]

I agree 100%. There is absolutely no reason to think that an entitiy that created "man" in his own image wouldn't give us the skills and curiosity to discover how life began. In fact, I think he has left us clues that will ultimately lead us back to him. I think mankind will continue to break more secrets of how the universe (and life) began and will eventually hit a wall - called God.

BTW, if I'm not mistaken, crystals have been synthesized which demostrate the same reproductive characteristics as these compounds. Obviously, crystals, nor chemical reactions are alive.

It's similar to the theory of perpetual motion - how can anyone ever prove it works? By the time these compounds (in theory) become "alive" will any of us still be here? 4.5 billion years is a long time to wait for a result.

I'm a Christian and I'm not mad. Why would you think it would make a Christian mad? God will let us go as far as He wants. Chances are, the universe has gone through this same process countless times before. We just happen to be aware in this cycle.

What I find interesting is that humans have only begun to understand the basic laws of physics yet those same laws have been there without regard for humans existence. There is an uncanny amount of order and consistency in the universe that humans have NO controll over. Yet it exists. Is that order random? What are the odds?

[edit on 12-1-2009 by fnIrish]

[edit on 12-1-2009 by fnIrish]

Old news, Dan Burisch, a charlatan according to these boards, was working for a lab that found this out ages ago. I remember watching an interview with him at least 6 months ago, which described the creation of artificial life, long before the MSM got ahold of it.

Your right! but I fail to see the connection between the "growth" of crystals and the growth of living self replicating RNA's. A crystaline structure occurs because of the chemical reaction, yes but the crystals do not "choose" in what fashion they "grow" good point though

You call it faulty logic and then immediately agree with the statement.

You then go on to describe a subjective godhood that relies totally on perception.

A real God is an uncaused first cause that creates ex nihilo.

I guess my point is that humans have now created an imitation of life. Conversely, there are also things in nature that imitate life and don't need the pristine environment of a laboratory. It very well may be that humans one day will create life under controlled conditions. Whats to say God didn't do the same thing. The difference is that we tried to do it so we could see a result in our lifetime. God has no time restraints. He could afford to tak his time. As far as I know though, RNA isn't alive any more than sperm or an egg individually.

BTW, I'm not a biologist or a physicist. I am a barstool philosopher. Undocumented. Prove me wrong and I'll buy you a pint.

[edit on 12-1-2009 by fnIrish]

reply to post by fnIrish

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Well said! I should clarify, I was not attempting an attack on your statement, rather in my own subtle way trying to understand it's meaning.I consider myself to be of the same barstool alumni, so in retrospect, it is possible I might have made the same statement of sorts along the way, Pint coming your way

I certainly didn't think you were trying to attack my statement. I appreciate any point of view. I can't prove my theories either - but they make as much sense any any of the others. I just happen to like mine most at the moment.

In all of this what we should take from this is that research yeilds knowlege and knowledge is power. Its just like the G.I.Jo's say, when you know you got half the battle

I totally agree - mankind should learn as much as possible. God will shut us down when he sees fit. Until then, I say continue the reseach.

One of man's first attempts at a superstructure has been documented as the Tower of Babyl. History records that the attempt didn't sit well with God at the time and He shut them down. Mankind has far surpassed that level since then. Maybe we get knowledge in doses that we can handle. Who knows - time for a beer.

reply to post by alyosha1981

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So we've discovered an advanced life-form can create pseudo-life in a lab but that doesn't put us any closer to solving the biogenesis mystery of how actual life seems to have started out of nothing...