What should be the ethical guidelines for synthetic life?
The following link, http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/breakthroughs/synthetic-cell-breakthrough, relates the reporting of the first synthetically created DNA which was implanted into a cell. They even went so far as to put watermarks in the gene as well as encoded messages for fun (giving proof of the creator).
Of course, it's the good old oil companies who funded this as they want to create proprietary bacteria to eat CO2 and make fuel as a by product (there goes the environment if it spirals out of control causing global cooling?).
Anyway, we just made a leap forward in creating, synthesizing, one celled life which can replicate and inevitably mutate. What do you think should be the ethics guidelines for activities like this? Lower order life forms of course would be different than higher order ones. Going to be interesting is we ever figure out how to jump start consciuosness in a synthetic.
The following link, http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/breakthroughs/synthetic-cell-breakthrough, relates the reporting of the first synthetically created DNA which was implanted into a cell. They even went so far as to put watermarks in the gene as well as encoded messages for fun (giving proof of the creator).
Of course, it's the good old oil companies who funded this as they want to create proprietary bacteria to eat CO2 and make fuel as a by product (there goes the environment if it spirals out of control causing global cooling?).
Anyway, we just made a leap forward in creating, synthesizing, one celled life which can replicate and inevitably mutate. What do you think should be the ethics guidelines for activities like this? Lower order life forms of course would be different than higher order ones. Going to be interesting is we ever figure out how to jump start consciuosness in a synthetic.