First Ever Synthetic Cell. Fascinating.

[GLaDOS]

We were given two arms, to eyes, a mouth and a brain. We would be insulting the Good Lord if we did not put them to use in exploring the wonders of his creation. I see no problem in creating artificial life, do we aspire to become God? No, we do not. We aspire to see what good we can do our own people. It is not the act that is to be questioned, but the intent behind the act, thus it was with the tower of babel. It was not the act of building the tower that caused God to look upon it with displeasure. It was the intention behind it, to build a stairway to Heaven so we might be with God.

[Boomachucka]

I see no problem with this. In fact, I think it's pretty awesome- Think of the possibilities in the fields of bioengineering and organic computing with this type of discovery! Essentially, these are the steps to the next technological level for us as a species, such as the invention of the wheel, metallurgy, or scores of other very simple things that allowed us to proceed to where we are today.

Many people have mentioned in this thread that it's not our purpose to synthetically create life. I would agree that we shouldn't go around and start vat-growing humans and hybrids just for kicks, as that's pretty irresponsible. However, that type of behaviour is far too politically incorrect to fly and I don't believe we would see serious consideration of the type for many, many years. Or a couple centuries, even. I think the fact that we can create cells with specific purpose will ultimately pay off in a positive way rather than a negative.

On another note...
Yes, technology like this can be used for evil, pure and simple. However, I don't see anybody debating the merits of fire. If we were to never have fire, which can undoubtedly be used to harm others, we would probably not have survived as a species. How do you know that this technology won't be what helps save the planet one day?

I'm all for advances in technology- It's the immature issues of politics and pollution caused by laziness, dirty industry, and consumption that are root of our problems. Once our species is mature enough to allow science and nature to thrive together, we will be a lot better off. I feel many of the issues we have today were due to negligence from the past 80 years or so- Pretty much everything between the industrial revolution and now. However I would say that the attitude of the population is slowly changing, and while it may not be in our lifetimes, a clean future is within grasp.

</rant>. I'm obviously tired and shouldn't have started replying to this thread in such an erratic-minded manner.