Creating Life

A scientist has created synthetic life in a lab and last night it was being heavily reported in the news. Now obviously this has bought up numerous arguments for and again as well as the usual ethics questions. Not being a scientist I won't be discussing most of the arguments because to be honest I haven't got a clue what I am talking about and would probably make myself look silly.

The argument I will be looking at is the "no one has the right to play god" and the religious influences. Now some people when they are ill will use their faith and prayer to try and recover from any illness and injury which I have no argument with. I don't agree with people refusing life saving treatment because of their beliefs but again I am not going to question this. It is your body and your health at the end of the day.

This is where I am probably going to get a bit controversial but the argument that no one has the right to play god is completely flawed. From what I can see the only people who can use this argument are people who refuse all forms of medical intervention and that includes vaccines and anything preventative including pain relief. I would also ask hasn't man been playing god for hundreds of years now?

There are hundreds of examples that I could use to back up my argument but the first one that comes to mind is IVF. Are we not using science to help others create life? Are we not playing god then? When doctors administer life saving treatment to a person are they not playing god then? I am fairly certain in these cases people are more than happy for doctors to play god. Are we really talking about god here or are we talking about nature? If god made man then surely he gave man the ability to evolve and progress? With that progression has to come the ability to decide on the fate of others and create life regardless of whether it is synthetic or biological life.

I fully agree that all of this progress hasn't always been good, some of it has had a very negative impact on the human race. I am talking about chemical and biological weapons. Again people have used them to play god and decide on who is going to die in a war or terrorist activity. I think if you are going to use an argument against progression in a scientific context then you need to use a scientific argument and not a religious argument which this is.