GMW: A future full of hopes and fears

[Guest guest]

GMW: A future full of hopes and fears

" GM WATCH " <info

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 14:05:30 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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We recently reported a servey based on interviews with 600 life

scientists in the UK suggesting that a dangerous and uncaring

arrogance and

disregard for the possible consequences of scientists' behaviour may be

an integral part of the current culture within the life sciences. It is

disturbing to read the following article in the light of that.

 

 

 

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5499

 

Note also that although Rees notes our extraordinary knowledge in terms

knowing " how stars are fuelled " etc., it's a truism that understanding

the life of a star is child's play compared to understanding the life

of the simplest of biological organisms. It's ironic therefore to note

Criag Venter's determination to " create " an artificial single cell

organism. It was Venter who once famoisly admitted, " We don't know sh*t

about biology " .

 

The interviews with the life scientists suggested that the majority

failed to taken into account the possible consequences of their research

and even believed that if their research was made use of for purposes of

terrorism that was, " not their problem " . Venter is similarly blase

about the impact of creating artificial life interms of those " who

want to

play God or take us to an era of bioterror. "

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A future full of hopes and fears

By Jo Twist

BBC News science and technology reporter

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4685231.stm

 

Science and technology have powered huge leaps in understanding but our

biggest challenges lie ahead.

 

The science of complexity is perhaps the greatest challenge of all,

Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees believes.

 

The biggest conundrum is humanity and how we came to be, he told the

Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in Oxford.

 

The cosmologist said that in the 21st Century science has changed the

world faster than ever before and in many new ways.

 

" Our century is very, very special, " said Professor Rees. " It is the

first where humans can change themselves. "

 

Advances such as drug implants may have fundamentally changed human

beings profoundly already - the effects of which we could see this

century.

 

We know more about our Universe, we know how stars are fuelled, how

nuclei in atoms act together, and how galaxies are held together by dark

matter - huge swarms of particles.

 

We can trace events back to the early stages of the Big Bang, but we

still do not know what " banged " , or even if there were multiple " bangs " ,

said Prof Rees.

 

There is still a lot of " unfinished business " for humans, he said,

particularly in understanding the theory that links the very large and

the

very small in our Universe - the theory that may lead to understand

potentially different dimensions.

 

Quarter of a second in June

 

Prof Rees also had warnings for conference participants.

 

" Bio and cyber technologies are environmentally benign as they offer

marvellous prospects, but they will have a dark side, " he said.

 

" One technology may empower just one fanatic to trigger a global

catastrophe.

 

" We have to accept the risks if we are going to enjoy the benefits of

science, " he said.

 

Prof Rees called on scientists and entrepreneurs to take on the

responsibility to campaign and alert the rest of the world to both the

risks

and benefits. Earth, after all, has a long history ahead.

 

Whatever happens in this uniquely crucial century will resonate in the

remote future and perhaps far beyond the Earth.

 

Even those in the field of evolutionary sciences are far from knowing

how humanity will change.

 

Computer models can only go so far when we do not even fully understand

how we came about on Earth in the first instance.

 

We have only existed, as far as we know, for a few billion years.

 

" If you represent the Earth's lifetime in a single year, the 21st

Century would be a quarter of a second in June, " said Prof Rees.

 

We are not even halfway through our allotted time on Earth before the

Sun itself burns out.

 

" Any life and intelligence that exists then will be as different from

us as we are to bacteria, " he explained.

 

Our rate of population growth and our addiction to fossil fuels and

consumption of resources only adds to the uncertainty about our future.

 

Life - but not as we know it

 

One man who is set on trying to unfold the complexity of life and how

we are made up and came to be in order to understand our future is Craig

Venter.

 

He was one of the masterminds behind the sequencing of the human genome

- the genetic code that creates life.

 

His next big challenge is to create living, artificial organisms from a

kit of genes, and he is well on his way. He says an artificial single

cell organism is possible in two years.

 

" We sequenced 130 genomes this year. The rate of reading the genetic

code has changed but we have barely scratched the surface, " he told the

conference.

 

Microbes make up over a half of all Earth's biomass. A mouthful of

seawater accidentally swallowed sends millions of different bacteria into

your gut.

 

To unravel the complexity of life on our planet in order to understand

more about where humans come from, Dr Venter embarked on a round the

world ocean voyage to take samples of seawater every 200 miles.

 

At every stop they found new species. At one location, one barrelful

contained 1.3 million new genes and 50,000 new species.

 

To him, these genes are the design components of evolution, the

" software that builds its own hardware " .

 

But evolution has only given us so many answers. " We need new methods

to understand the biology out there. Only by trying to build it will we

truly understand it, " he says.

 

But the aims of his mission are even wider than that.

 

" We are optimistic we will have a new form of artificial life based on

our knowledge of these existing genomes that provides knowledge to go

forward to tackle environmental problems, " he says.

 

" We know lots of different pathways and thousands of organisms that

live off carbon dioxide can catch that back from the atmosphere. "

 

That can then be converted to biopolymers and new products.

 

There are lots of pathways that can be engineered to convert methane

into useful products too.

 

Future engineered species could be a source of food, energy, and could

help regenerate damaged environments.

 

To Dr Venter, his venture is crucial to understanding our future.

 

He dismisses fears that if one can create artificial life once the code

has been written, then this will open a Pandora's Box for those who

want to play God or take us to an era of bioterror.

 

" Almost every major religion requires humans to try and improve

society, " he says.

 

One certainty in an uncertain world is clear to Prof Rees: " Whatever

happens in this uniquely crucial century will resonate in the remote

future and perhaps far beyond the Earth. "

 

 

 

 

 

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