Scientists are busy working on artificial intelligence, you know this already, but did you know that they are also working on creating artificial life? According to this report (San Jose Mercury News - Artificial life likely in 3 to 10 years):
Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they're getting closer. [...] And several scientists believe man-made life forms will one day offer the potential for solving a variety of problems, from fighting diseases to locking up greenhouse gases to eating toxic waste.
Ok, that sounds good, but is there a downside?
Bedau said there are legitimate worries about creating life that could "run amok," but there are ways of addressing it, and it will be a very long time before that is a problem. "When these things are created, they're going to be so weak, it'll be a huge achievement if you can keep them alive for an hour in the lab," he said. "But them getting out and taking over, never in our imagination could this happen."
Ok, that sounds reassuring, no danger then of combining artificial life with artificial intelligence and creating an entirely new form of biological self-aware life form. Still, we could always have AI software managing the systems creating the A-Life, for the betterment of humanity, of course.
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