CBS News - Building Life A Molecule At A Time
That links to a CBS news article telling how Genetic Engineering is being led away from trial and error changes in DNA to something called "Synthetic Biology", or the science of building organisms, living things able to reproduce, with a more ordered approach. Intelligent design, if I ever saw it.
It's not the deepest of articles if you're going to look at it from a scientist's point of view, but it doesn't need to be for the purposes of discussing the potential effects this can have on a creationist's point of view on the origins of life.
Synthetic Biology has already succeeded in creating a polio virus and another smaller virus by stitching together individual genes purchased from biotechnology companies. Here we have scientists, mere mortals, creating life. All of a sudden it doesn't seem to take divine intervention.
As this field progresses, we'll be seeing more and more complex organisms created with specific purposes. What's to keep us from thinking this will eventually lead to the synthesis of fully engineered human (or human-like) DNA resulting in beings undistinguishable from current humans?
Without even getting into the ethical issues potentially raised by this, what effect do you think it would have on creationists' belief that humans were specially created?
This message has been edited by LauraG, 08-20-2005 05:49 PM
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