Panmere

Published recently in in AI & Society [1]. The abstract:
If complexity is a necessary but not sufficient premise for the existence and expression of the living, anticipation is the distinguishing characteristic of what is alive. Anticipation is at work even at levels of existence where we cannot refer to intelligence. The prospect of artificially generating […]

Aloisius Louie, author of More Than Life Itself [1], was one of a number of scientists asked to write an article [2] for the Journal of Cosmology commenting on Venter’s recent success in bioengineering [3]. Louie puts the Venter success into proper context:

The important and consequential Venter achievement is an impressive one in technology, but […]

From Popular Science and Wired, DARPA is budgeting six million dollars on a rather frightening program called “BioDesign” [1]:

BioDesign is a new intellectual approach to biological functionality. The intrinsic concept is that by using gained knowledge of biological processes in combination with biotechnology and synthetic chemical technology, humans can employ system engineering methods to originate […]

From the UK Telegraph today:
Artificial life will be created ‘within months’ as genome experts claim vital breakthrough
Scientists are only months away from  creating artificial life, it was claimed yesterday.
Dr Craig Venter – one of the world’s most famous and controversial biologists – said his U.S. researchers have overcome one of the last big hurdles to […]

From Nature Editor’s Summary:
The origin of life on Earth required — at some point — the synthesis of a genetic polymer from simple chemicals. The leading candidate for this role is RNA, but although ‘activated’ ribonucleotide molecules (the building blocks of RNA) can polymerize without enzymes, no plausible route had been found by which the […]

Yet another article on how artificial life is just around the corner. This one is from New Scientist: “Second Genesis: Making New Life“.