"The ability to synthesize life will be an event of profound importance, like the invention of agriculture or the invention of metallurgy," Freeman Dyson, a mathematician and physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, wrote in an e-mail. "Nobody can tell in advance what will come of it."
And believe it or not, science is closing in on that very thing. Biologists say the time is rapidly approaching when they will be able to assemble (or create if you will) life from base elements in the lab. It's already been done on a limited basis:
"Four years ago Dr. Joyce and a graduate student, Tracey A. Lincoln, now a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, evolved a molecule in a test tube that could replicate and evolve all by itself, swapping little jerry-built genes in a test tube forever, as long as it was supplied with the right carefully engineered ingredients."
Deep philosophical dilemmas are about to pounce on us from several directions. I wonder how we'll respond.
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