Religious people have been accusing others of "playing god" for thousands of years. As near as I can tell, the definition of "playing god" means "trying to understand parts of the physical world that I personally do not understand but think should be blocked off from human comprehension and marked with a sign reading 'god is here'."
Yeah but i haven't been around for a thousand years... so i didn't use that phrase in those cases. [and i don't subscribe to the definition you gave either.] We're strictly talking about 'creating' life in this sub-thread/tangent.
Originally Posted By: tacit
There is nothing particularly magical about life;
What happened to all that "awe" then?
Originally Posted By: tacit
we're closing in on the ability to create a living organism entirely from scratch,
You have more faith than you realize.
Originally Posted By: tacit
and if you don't accept that Dr. Ventnor has done that yet, the question will become academic soon.
I seriously doubt that creating "life" from scratch [i.e., in my sterilized building, with nothing but elements and energy] is possible. They will always need to tinker with something that's already alive (or parts of something that was). No more magical than breeding a dog with a pig. Hey look... it's a new life form!!! Eureka, etc.
