Confronting the Future - Is Craig Venter now a God?

8/9/2019 Confronting the Future - Is Craig Venter now a God?

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Confronting the FutureOne small step f o r [ a ] man, one giant leap for mankind

http://shadowintheflame.com/blog/2010/05/26/confronting-the-future-part-1/

Scientists Create Life

The news is only days old but like a long awaitedmessenger, we have been expecting it with trepidation.

The answer to the question that man has been ponderingfor thousands of years is now in.

Like it or not and to hell with the consequences; Man has

created life.

Okay, to be more accurate, scientists have created

synthetic life in the lab.

But lets not quibble over semantics because in the near

future it wont matter, we will have done both. J CraigVenter and his team have, to paraphrase those immortal

words first spoken by Armstrong, taken one small step for [a] man, one giant leap

for mankind

But do we know where we leap? Or are we jumping with our eyes closed andhoping for the best?

Craig Venter on Creating Synthetic Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o_QW-lQnUA


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What the Ancient Greeks ThoughtAbout Life

Since the days of Aristotle, scientists, philosophers, and theologians have debated

the question, which I will state as: Is Life a gift from God or merely a mixture of

chemical components that ultimately unravel or stop working leading to a condition

we call, death?

The early philosophers thought our "soul" was Life which left our body when we

died. The Greek word is derived from the verb "to cool, to blow" and refers to their

concept that in humans and other animals, life was some form of vital breath, or

animating force that some how entered our body at birth.

Henri Bergsons lan vital

Henri Bergson coined another term for that vital force that distinguishes the living

from the dead; he called it lan vital. In his 1907 book, Creative Evolution,

Bergson closely linked lan vital with consciousness. It was the existence of this

vital force, which led people to believe that it was not possible to create organic

molecules. In effect they believed man could not create life.Scientists Create Synthetic Life in Lab

Now a little over 100 years later, Dr. Craig Venter's team

have taken an Armstrong like step toward proving them

wrong. They have created artificial life by transplanting

computer-designed genetic DNA into a bacteria cell to form a

new strain of the bacteria. In effect they have created a

computer virus that has resulted in a living organism.

While Bergson and his followers may be proved to be

wrong, the ancient Greeks had numerous creation mythsand perhaps some of these creation stories are more

prescient that we realised, for example one ancient myth asserts that humans were

created out of earth and water, aided by the Greek God, Prometheus, with his gift

of fire.

Is Craig Venter a modern day Prometheus?

Was Prometheus some alien scientist and was his fire a Bunsen burner and are we

the product of some computer programme - literally?

This hypothesis may make an interesting topic of speculation but what is more

likely is, that Venters experiment as well as that of other teams, such as the

researchers at the Scripps Research Institute who in 2009, created molecules that

self replicate and even evolve and compete, shows that given the right

environment life could form spontaneously.

It might be a billion to one chance but the Scripps research hypothesised that

Some chemical reactions occurred about 4 billion years ago perhaps in a primordial

tidal soup or maybe with the help of volcanoes or possibly at the bottom of the sea

or between the mica sheets to create biology. (see article in Live Science).

[http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/090111-creating-life.html]


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Is Man made in the Image of God?

Whichever way you look at it, this type of research will not only lead to new

biochemical technology that could be used for good or bad but it will also re-open

the age old questions regarding the origins and nature of life. This could have far deeper

implications for man kind as he reassesses his place in the world as a creature not made

in the image of God and with no moral superiority over other species.

In an article on eSTV we look at the mechanics ofhow scientists created life on a

computer(http://www.estv.com.au/component/content/article/88-it-

technology/319-how-scientists-created-synthetic-life-in-the-lab.html) but in this

article I want to ask the philosophical questions;

What happens if scientists prove there is no God?

What happens when scientists make human beings?

How will that affect our self esteem?

How will the loss of God or an after life affect the way people behave?

I Build Y ou a Slave

The stated goals of the Venter project is to develop the ability to design microbes from

scratch to perform functions ranging from converting carbon-dioxide into oil to cleaning up

pollution and the manufacture of better vaccines.

We should note that they are the Good causes this technology can provide solutions for,

but we all know that there is always another side to research. In this case it is the other

uses governments will put it to such as biological weapons and changing the way species

function to one day, creating new species of slaves to serve man and I dont just mean

smart microbes.True, that may be a long way off but so was this result one hundred years ago and our

scientific knowledge today is expanding at a rate at least equivalent to ten 20th century

years every year.

The organism Venters team created has one million letters or bases of DNA code but how

long will it take before they can piece together the 3 billion bases needed to produce a

human (The human genome is made up of DNA, which has four different chemical building

blocks. These are called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G. In the human genome,

about 3 billion bases are arranged along the chromosomes in a particular order for each

unique individual.) One thing this experiment reinforces is that nothing is impossible and

time is relative.

Indeed, this work fans the debate over the bioethics which is heating up, as the

Christian Science Monitor writes, due to a broad trend in the physical and

biological sciences one that over the past several decades has evolved to give

humanity the ability to manipulate inanimate, and now animate, matter at its most

fundamental levels and in forms of uniquely human design. (Pete Spotts, 20th May

2010).


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As our ability to create life gets closer to realization, so understanding the ethics

involved becomes more urgent.

Venter says his work could be seen as the "final word in favor of mechanistic

reductionism" of organic life. He says. "That's the enormous significance of this

work." This is a reference to Hegels hypothesis of biological development from

mechanism to chemism, chemism to teleology, and teleology to life.

A Catholic Priest Discusses the Moral Issues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJSST3k5880&feature=player_embedded#!


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Confronting the Future Part 2http:/ / shadowintheflame.com/ blog/ 2010/ 06/ 01/ confronting-the-future-part-2/

Is Craig Venter a God?

If we pray to God because he created us, who should the species we create pray

to?

Scientists may say we dont need to answer that while we

are creating microbes but what happens when we develop

the ability to string together the code for 3 billion bases

and produce our first human?

However, long before we create a human from scratch we

will have developed the ability to genetically modify

babies. Who is the God when we engineer a fetus to

produce children to order or for a specific purpose? This

question is just as relevant if you have the technology

available to do it, but choose not to do it as it is, if you use

the technology to do it.

At What Point Do You Become God?

So the question arises, when do you become a God? Is it when you create a single

cell life form or must you wait until you have created a complex human life form?

Or is there some half way point at which this event happens? I find it hard to justify

making a distinction between the point where we create single cell life and a

complex one.

The question is not merely one of hypothetical speculation any more. The science is

here, the technology just needs to be refined.

See Discovery Channel Video Craig Venter Good explanation of Genetic

modification

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrJ5YUJK1zw

God Creating life onhis computer


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What will be the position of species, especially complex species that are created by

man to serve his needs? Whatever we call them, will they be slaves?

Apart from all the economic arguments regarding why slavery is not an efficient

way to organize an economy, the ethical argument against slavery was basically

that all men were created equal in the eyes of God.

If we assume there is a God, then no matter who creates the species, it is still

created under Gods auspices. Therefore the answer must be that they have equal

rights. Of course that argument could equally apply to animals.

Is I t Ethically Acceptable to Make A Slave?

But if we prove that life was created by a one in a billion chance chemical reaction

does that change the position of man verses animals or vis--vis a species

specifically created by man? If a long held belief in God has not endowed animals

or many the many disadvantaged humans, with equal rights,

what will happen when we take God out of the equation?

Is it ethically acceptable that if man has the ability to create a

form of human that is genetically programmed to serve mans

needs, that he should do so? Will we regard this species as

human, animal or android? Should it make any difference?What if that species looks human, breathes air like us, has a human life span and

dies like us? If it eats, feels pain and bleeds like a human? What if it has feelings?

Is it ethical to produce a species that has a brain and can learn but is genetically

programmed to be a servant or a soldier or a baby maker?

In this experiment Venters team injected synthetic DNA into a living cell and

watched it take over that cell and ultimately wipe out the previous DNA. The cell

then turned blue which the new DNA was programmed to do when it took control of

the cell.


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The aim is that one day we can inject DNA into a cancer cell and watch it self

destruct? That would be good. How would we feel about injecting a male with DNA

code and watch him turn into a female or vice-versa? Some would prefer this to the

current situation which requires surgery and drugs to achieve a partial solution.

The options are endless but at what point are they the person God created or the

person Craig created? Or do we do away with the notion of God?

Bad With God What Will We Be Like W ithout?

In this increasingly secular world some would say that it doesnt matter if you take

God out of the equation, but until we can formulate a better foundation for an

effective ethical and moral code we should not rush to throw out the old.

Archimedes said it eloquently when he cried Give me somewhere to stand and I

shall move the earth. Unfortunately secular humanists have yet to create a

philosophy anywhere near as motivating as a faith in God which can move

mountains.

This is the challenge that we now face, to find a philosophy that can move men toput their own self interest aside for the benefit of all mankind, that can give them a

basis on which to build an ethical moral code to live by and still give them

enthusiasm for life.

Unfortunately, even as believers in God, we have still not reached a philosophical

position of full equality among all members of the human race as we know it, so

how will we incorporate these new man made species when they come. And they

will come, the only question is when?

My prediction is that our attempt to address these issues will have consequential

effects on our views about race, human equality, the rights of women and children,

minorities and even animals.

This debate could be the impetus that we have needed from the beginning to

approach a world view that is more encompassing, fair and compassionate for all.

But it will probably mean that we never get that slave, or, maybe, that once again,

more people will be in danger of becoming one.

When it comes to making the important decisions that will impact our future our

track record so far is etsy ketsy at best.


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Confronting the Future was w ritten by Ric Vatner and published on

Shadow in the Flame the philosophy blog w hich is a supplement of

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Confronting the Future - Is Craig Venter now a God?

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