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Pass the Cigars: A Computer Gives Birth to a Living Being
We welcome Jackson Simperly into our LiveBlog to ask questions about today’s most exciting breaking news.
Q: What’s the difference between Artificial Life and Real Life?
A: Nothing.
Q: Wow.
A: Yes.
After a fifteen year struggle, Scientists at the J. Craig Vetner Institute have successfully become god. As Christians across the world begin squirming, so too does the catchy-named Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0, the world’s first self-replicating synthetic bacterial cell.
Q: Does this mean a computer had babies?
A: Yes and it has no need to carry an annoying tote or an off-road stroller.
Q: And the computer’s babies can have babies.
A: Yes.
Q: Wow.
A: Yes.
The successful experiment is proof that a genome designed with a computer and then created inside a laboratory with chemicals can then be injected into an empty cell and essentially “booted” into existence. Apparently, Nietzsche was wrong.Let’s listen in on Dr. Clyde Hutchins, one of the scientists involved in the experiment:
“To me the most remarkable thing about our synthetic cell is that its genome was designed in the computer and brought to life through chemical synthesis, without using any pieces of natural DNA.”
Q: What do the Christians think?
A: The Pope is working on a list of new sins.
Q: Thank you for your time.
A: That is not a question.
(Jackson Simperly works as an unemployed in Wheeling, West Virginia.)
Full press release at JCVI: here.Posted on May 20, 2010 with 1 note ()
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