

Another step towards that artificial life thing - rms
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/sep/06/2

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rms
> But some campaigners worry about the new technology's unsettling potential
> and argue there should be a moratorium on the research until the ethical and
> technological implications have been discussed more widely

Are we going to have to listen to these people complain until they all die
off?

> In an interview with Newsweek magazine earlier this year, Dr Venter claimed
> that a fuel-producing microbe could become the first billion- or trillion-
> dollar organism. The institute has already patented a set of genes for
> creating such a stripped-down creature.

Energy technology this big does not deserve to belong to a corporation. Free
energy should belong to the people. We need to rewrite market economics for
breakthroughs like this.

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jamesbritt
The phrase "artificial life" has a long (in tech terms) history, referring to
digital systems. For example, <http://alife.org>

Regarding hand-crafted systems of chemicals, I don't see that the word
"artificial" is even appropriate. The stuff is alive or it isn't.

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rms
Biotech is going to be very big soon. Remember, in five years you'll be able
to store your genome on your personal data network.

