Should life creation be allowed?

[fredreload]

I've posted this question on another forum, but I feel that I can gather some information here as well, so here goes.

 

If you are given the ability to create life, do you think you should do it? Well, I'm not talking about like taking care of an egg and have it grows into a chicken, but like create life as it is. It can be anything from ant to possibly a human being. Personally I think creating life is not the same as killing it, so maybe it should be allowed? What are your guys thoughts on it? I agree that creating life on a computer or sort, many things can go wrong. Creating life and destroying it can be done in the blink of an eye and in vast quantities. So should it be regulated?

 

P.S. By the way the life you created inside a computer might never die = =

Edited June 29, 2016 by fredreload

[ajb]

If you are given the ability to create life, do you think you should do it? [/size]

Some of us have the ability to do so, others not. Some of us that have the ability choose not to, for many reasons. The word 'should' is the problem - this suggests some moral obligation. The planet is not short of people.

[fredreload]

Some of us have the ability to do so, others not. Some of us that have the ability choose not to, for many reasons. The word 'should' is the problem - this suggests some moral obligation. The planet is not short of people.

I haven't thought of any ethical concerns really, nor is there a law imposed on life creation, but I respect your idea

 

P.S. Well then my focus would be on transferring and studying ilfe(observing, scanning)

Edited June 29, 2016 by fredreload

[Daecon]

People create life all the time, even sometimes by accident. If you're referring to the ethics of manufacturing a fully self aware, sapient and sentient artificial intelligence, then that's a whole world of cans of worms.

[fredreload]

Right well, I call false on life creation

Edited June 29, 2016 by fredreload

[Strange]

Right well, I call false on life creation

 

 

You need to explain what you mean.

 

Other seem to be referring to reproduction as the creation of life. That seems entirely reasonable so I don't see how you can say it is false.

 

What, exactly, do you mean by "creation of life"?

[swansont]

!

Moderator Note

Moved from speculations to ethics. (not a scientific hypothesis)

[Moontanman]

Right well, I call false on life creation

 

 

I to would like some elaboration on that.

 

"Creating life" encompasses a huge area from replicating molecules to simple single cell life to complex multicellular organisms, exactly what do you mean by " life creation"?

[DrP]

What about improving life!? (or is this for another thread?)... We could splice human DNA with that of a shark so that we needn't go to the dentist anymore, our teeth would keep growing back. (Shark DNA might cause us to be more aggressive, so you might need some fluffy bunny rabbit DNA also to balance the temper). Also, what about those tiny bug things that resist extremes of high and low temperature and can live for thousands of years... tardigrades? I want some of that DNA.

 

Basically splice in what we want without changing our humane nature too much... (else more fluffy bunny code will be required to keep us tame and horny)

We'd have super strong, super resistant, long life without the need for dental treatment.

[Moontanman]

What about improving life!? (or is this for another thread?)... We could splice human DNA with that of a shark so that we needn't go to the dentist anymore, our teeth would keep growing back. (Shark DNA might cause us to be more aggressive, so you might need some fluffy bunny rabbit DNA also to balance the temper). Also, what about those tiny bug things that resist extremes of high and low temperature and can live for thousands of years... tardigrades? I want some of that DNA.

 

Basically splice in what we want without changing our humane nature too much... (else more fluffy bunny code will be required to keep us tame and horny)

We'd have super strong, super resistant, long life without the need for dental treatment.

 

 

Just make me into a centaur and I'll be happy...

[iNow]

I will add to the calls for a better explanation of what the OP means by "creating life."

 

We make babies all of the time via reproduction. That's creation of life.

I dump uneaten old food into the trash and that often creates life.

I sometimes plant seeds into a garden. That too creates life.

We often manually fertilize ranch animals and pigs and chickens for our food supply which also creates life.

We sometimes create bacteria to manufacture insulin, and other times we create algae and other biomass to create things like fuel. All of these activities are the creation of life, too.

 

So, maybe the OP is talking about some form of genetic engineering or cloning of humans, perhaps?

 

Hard to tell really, but frankly even once this gets clarified we'll all still be left with the question of how and why this is any different (or should be treated any differently) than the countless many other approaches we already see and use every single day to create life.

Edited June 29, 2016 by iNow

[Strange]

Apart from that one involving stitching bits of bodies together and waiting for a good electrical storm ...

[iNow]

[Phi for All]

I'm completely against the cabbage patch procedure, for ethical reasons. Same with using stork methodology. These may sound natural, but as life creation processes they fall short in several key areas.

[DrP]

I don't know Phi - if someone with a fine young body gets their head squished..... then I'd be up for transferring my head onto their shoulders in a few years time if the technology permits it. ;-) Ok - this won't be creating life, it will be prolonging it, or whatever you want to argue semantically, but where is the line drawn and why?

[Strange]

but where is the line drawn and why?

 

Between the second and third cervical vertebrae?

[Phi for All]

I don't know Phi - if someone with a fine young body gets their head squished..... then I'd be up for transferring my head onto their shoulders in a few years time if the technology permits it. ;-) Ok - this won't be creating life, it will be prolonging it, or whatever you want to argue semantically, but where is the line drawn and why?

 

 

Between the second and third cervical vertebrae?

 

What if a body, ending between the second and third cervical vertebrae, were cloned in a tank from your own cells, then attached to your old head if your factory body goes bad? You aren't creating life, you're using your own cells.

[StringJunky]

 

 

What if a body, ending between the second and third cervical vertebrae, were cloned in a tank from your own cells, then attached to your old head if your factory body goes bad? You aren't creating life, you're using your own cells.

Also, if you reuse the same cell line the senescence is still there and the likelihood of cancer etc increases; you are still as old.as you are.

 

If we can create life from scratch, we will; curiosity demands it. We'll put the ethics on after the fact.

Edited June 30, 2016 by StringJunky

[Lyudmilascience]

Some of us have the ability to do so, others not. Some of us that have the ability choose not to, for many reasons. The word 'should' is the problem - this suggests some moral obligation. The planet is not short of people.

I agree some peolple do have a chance to create life and some dont, I do because im a woman and firtle and any firtile man does.of course it should be allowed to create life but it should be regulated, it is in china they have to pay for any extra kids they have after the first. there is enough people in this world.

[Moontanman]

Technically life has been created in a lab already, DNA assembled from scratch has been used to make a living cell...

[fredreload]

Hmm, technically what I mean by life is the creation of a nervous system. You can feel and have a sense of being alive with a nervous system, whereas bacteria and similar organisms that does not have a nervous system does not have a sense of self or awareness. So if digital immortality is real and you create life in a computer, who is to decide when to terminate their lives? Keep in mind that they could be immortals

[Strange]

Hmm, technically what I mean by life is the creation of a nervous system.

 

 

You are not clarifying anything.

 

The examples people have given (normal human reproduction, for example) involve the creation of a nervous system.

 

So, no. There is nothing wrong with that.

 

Maybe it is the word "creation" you should attempt to clarify, not the word "life".

[iNow]

Hmm, technically what I mean by life is the creation of a nervous system.

And those too we've been creating since at least the 1950s: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_neural_network

.

And even organic parts of nervous systems have been created since this time last year: http://news.cision.com/karolinska-institutet/r/artifical-neuron-mimicks-function-of-human-cells,c9796303

[CharonY]

Technically life has been created in a lab already, DNA assembled from scratch has been used to make a living cell...

 

But they were introduced into the same cell from the sequences were previously removed from.

[Moontanman]

 

But they were introduced into the same cell from the sequences were previously removed from.

 

 

I am not sure if they were introduced to the same cell or not but I do know the sequences were made from scratch, not just removed and put back in...