Brave New Life Update

Fr. Thomas Berg, Director of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person, suggests that the development "is scientifically fascinating, ethically neutral, and can be a part of something more serious" — New synthetic cell ‘fascinating’ but potentially dangerous, experts caution. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian Bishops Conference, called it a "further sign of intelligence, God's gift to understand creation and be able to better govern it."

"Craig Venter's feat in creating a synthetic microorganism is impressive, but not earth-shattering," cautions Michael Cook — The bacterium whose parent is a computer. Quoted is Harvard’s George Church as saying, "The semi-synthetic mycobacterium is not changed from the wild state in any fundamental sense. Printing out a copy of an ancient text isn’t the same as understanding the language."