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I just heard on the news that within 3-10 years, artificial life will be possible.
My first thought, is that I've heard more people than not say how we're overpopulated as is. I speculate that to a degree, proof of that is that abortion is still going on.
And it depends what you mean by a soul. I don't believe that I have a "soul". I'm blood, bones and gristle.
What do they mean by artificial life? Test tube babies? Androids? Nano-bots? Self-replicating helixes in a plasma chamber? It could come in many guises.
I just heard on the news that within 3-10 years, artificial life will be possible.
My first thought, is that I've heard more people than not say how we're overpopulated as is. I speculate that to a degree, proof of that is that abortion is still going on.
My second thought: will this person have a soul?
XenoSapien
I am a believer in the Almighty Creator and humans having souls.
As a believer in both I do not think anyone is capable of creating a fully functioning living being .
As the book I believe states-
"O mankind! A similitude has been coined, so listen to it (carefully): Verily! Those on whom you call besides Allâh, cannot create (even) a fly, even though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly snatched away a thing from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought."
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Another thing is in your referenced article it says
"Bedau figures there are three major hurdles to creating synthetic life:
— A container, or membrane, for the cell to keep bad molecules out, allow good ones, and the ability to multiply.
— A genetic system that controls the functions of the cell, enabling it to reproduce and mutate in response to environmental changes.
— A metabolism that extracts raw materials from the environment as food and then changes it into energy."
In the light of the above points I would like to say that there is no chance of contributing to overpopulation as it does not seem really likely to create a pseudo human or human in the first place.
Another thing is that abortion does not lean towards overpopulation, but more towards careless teenagers and/or adults who do not want children ( or parents who donot want unhealthy children).
Ah! Xeno thank you for explaining, in that case yes, you must ask yourself just how close to true life this artificial life is
Since God created all life, and gave each member a soul, when we create life, do we do likewise, even if it is not a conscious step?
Is the process of changing something from a bundle of chemicals into a living breathing replicating thing equivalent to giving it a soul?
(I am of course trying to extrapolate from not my own beliefs but from the beliefs of others, so I hope you will forgive and correct any errors in assumption that I make).
Understood, and a fair angle to take on it, Capuchin. After soaking in your good questions, I was quickly reminded of a bumper-sticker I once saw:
"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you" --Signed, God.
From my angle, there is pre-determination. Before you or I or anyone else was just an "itch in our daddy's pants", God chose where to deliver each human, creature and kind.
With this artificial life, it is man making that choice, although still very much a life, yet not a pre-determination by God but rather by man, hence man "playing God", and that is where I have hit the crossroads. Will they/will they not have a soul?
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