“You are special” But not as special as you think.

CB 1.3 What is life?

Living organisms must fit all of the following criteria: (modified from Campbell “Biology”) 1. They must have organization. 2. They must have metabolism. 3. They must respond to the environment. 4. They must be able to reproduce themselves.

Can we create “artificial” life?

Can we create “artificial” life? What would it be like? Can something with these traits be considered not alive?

Creation of a bacterial cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome. C Venter et al Science 329: “The new cells have expected... properties and are capable of continuous self-replication.” Synthesized DNA based on M. mycoides Synthetic DNA put into a M. capricolum recipient cell... The new cell has the characteristics of M. mycoides

...even the simplest forms of life have unpredictable, emergent properties. These properties are often useful and we want to control them, but their unpredictability presents a conundrum for traditional engineering. We must develop and perfect methods for engineering emergence. -Mark Bedau Professor of philosophy and humanities, Reed College, Oregon Life after the synthetic cell Nature 465: 422–424 (27 May 2010)

Venter's achievement would seem to extinguish the argument that life requires a special force or power to exist. In my view, this makes it one of the most important scientific achievements in the history of mankind. -Arthur Caplan Professor of bioethics, University of Pennsylvania Life after the synthetic cell Nature 465: 422–424 (27 May 2010)

Attempt to Patent Artificial Organism Draws a Protest Science 15 June 2007:316, p. 1557

Patents give 20 year monopoly for inventor

Can someone own life?

Why are some life forms better/worse than others?

Who/what receives human rights?

How different are we from other animals?

Do Animals Have Feelings? Antonio Damasio proposed (2003) 1.Primary - instinctual 2.Social - group interaction 3.Feelings - self-reflection

Are non-human animals self-aware? The mirror test: developed by Gallup in 1980s

a bottlenose dolphin trying to see a spot painted on it’s side

What about birds?

This pigeon has a bib so it cannot see it’s chest

put dot, and determine pigeons actions in front of mirror

Several species can recognize self in mirror by dot test or actions in front of mirror. They do not see mirror image as other, but self.

Is a sense of self necessary for feelings? Should our interactions with animals depend on their self-awareness? Is self-awareness necessary for feeling pain, fear, etc? Nature 419, 255 (19 September 2002) Awareness: Animal reflections by Marc Bekoff Dr. Jane Goodall speaks about what separates humans from chimpanzees (not much). I did not show this video in class, but I mentioned it.

Maintaining a complex society requires culture and language.

The complexity of our societies is reflected in human culture… Do other animals have culture?

In rats

Who/what receives human rights?

What kind of interactions do we have with non-human animals?

We eat them

We keep them as pets

We put them to work

We hunt them

We see them in zoos

We put them in the circus

They ride motorcycles

We study them

We use them in research

Is a sense of self necessary for feelings? Should our interactions with animals depend on their self-awareness? Is self-awareness necessary for feeling pain, fear, etc? Nature 419, 255 (19 September 2002) Awareness: Animal reflections by Marc Bekoff

What rights does human uniqueness impart? This video relates to similarities/differences between humans and non-humans. Check it out if you are interested: