A pale imitation of the Master

Once again, Man wants to believe he has it all figured out:

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 making a synthetic organism. The first artificial lifeform is likely to be a simple man-made bacterium that proves that the technology can work.
But it will be followed by more complex bacteria that turn coal into cleaner natural gas, or algae that can soak up carbon dioxide and convert it into fuels.
They could also be used to create new vaccines and antibiotics.

This is all well enough, provided an abundance of caution is employed. Genetic modification of crops has yielded increased food supplies. There's no reason to believe modified bacterium can't be useful -- after all, most vaccines are modified, 'disarmed' copies of the diseases they prevent against.

But the term 'artificial life.' Really? Seems from reading the article what the scientists are doing is taking DNA from one organism, and blending it into another. To say that's creating life would be akin to removing the engine from an auto, putting it into another body, and saying you'd created the automobile. All you really did was reshuffle existing mechanisms. Science isn't creating life -- it's modifying it.

The motivation for such language is clear, though. The day scientists finally zap a concoction of amino acids and get something that wiggles and jiggles, the word will go out far and wide: we figured out a way to get life without having to have a God in the process. All the while, they'll overlook the fact there was an (allegedly) intelligent designer in the process: the scientists. Nothing will have been random.

One of my favorite jokes still bears a lot of wisdom:

Scientists: "We figured out how you made humans, God. You're irrelevant."
God: "Really? Show me."

The scientists crouch down to pick up some dirt.
God interrupts: "Excuse me... get your own dirt..."