The Spiritual Scientist

An ezine for those who think!

Artificial Life
Question:WhatistheVediccommentonrecentnewsreportaboutartificiallife?
Answer:LetmequoteCaltechbiologistandNobellaureateDavidBaltimore,whohassaidthathas
"overplayedtheimportance"ofhisresults;he"hasnotcreatedlife,onlymimickedit."
Let'sseewhatheactuallydid:
1. DeterminedthesequenceoftheDNAinoneoftheworld'ssimplestbacteria,
2. synthesizedacopyofthatDNAfromcomponentssoldbyabiologicalsupplycompany,and
3. replacedthenaturalDNAinalivingbacterialcellwiththissyntheticDNA.
NowweneedtorememberthatDNAisnotlife.Itissimplyasequenceofbiologicalcodesstoring
theinstructionsforbuildingproteins.
Themachinecodeofthegenesisuncannilycomputerlike
OxfordbiologistRichardDawkins

So, speaking analogically, not even the complete computer has been
created;justanewprogramwithinapreexistingcomputer.

"Scientistsdon'tknowenoughaboutbiologytocreatelife.AlthoughtheHumanGenomeProjecthasexpanded
thepartslistforcells,thereisnoinstructionmanualforputtingthemtogethertoproducealivingcell.Itislike
tryingtoassembleanoperationaljumbojetfromitspartslistimpossible."
BostonUniversitybioengineerJamesCollins

Even if we grant for argument's sake that scientists may somehow, sometime use the chemical
componentstocreateacellstructure,wouldthatamounttocreatinglife?No,becausethatwould
just be like making the computer, not the person who would use the computer. Although
materialisticscientistswouldhaveusbelievethatlifeisaproductofbiochemicals,
living systems behave in ways fundamentally and inexplicably different from
nonliving objects. Nonliving objects are created, deteriorate over time and
eventuallymeetwithdestruction.Livingsystemsexhibitsthreeadditionalfeatures:
selfmaintenance,growthandreproduction.Ifalivinghumanhandiscut,itcanclot
andhealitself;ifanartificialhandiscut,itcannot.Thesimplestunicellularorganism
can grow; the most sophisticated computer cannot. The most primitive living
systemscanreproduce;eventhemostadvancedrobotscan't.
Whatgiveslivingsystemstheseremarkableproperties?Itisthepresenceofthesoul,whichthe
Bhagavadgitaexplains,isthesourceoflife.Thesouliseternalandcanneverbecreated.Ifthe
energy spent on creating artificial life were used to cultivate spiritual knowledge and practice,
humanitywouldlearnmuchmoreaboutlife.Thescientificestablishmentmay
ormaynotdothis,buteachofusindividuallycan.Thenwewillnolongerbe
takeninbyoverhypedreportsaboutartificiallife,forwewouldbeconstantly
experiencingthefulfillmentandjoyofreallife.
Z
Published by VOICE (Vedic Oasis for Inspiration, Culture and Education)
ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Pune, India

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