First published 2 September 2013
Experimental studied on growing chemical organisms
Jerzy Maselko, James Pantaleone, Vitaliy Kaminker
The subject of this conference is: "Attempts to design and build artificial systems that display properties of organisms". Two hundred years ago, the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote the following:
"Property of life: A self-propagating organization of processes."
The difference between biological organisms and the complex chemical systems made by humans cannot be underestimated. The former contain such a large number of physical and chemical processes, each marked by incredible spatial and temporal organization and preciseness, that as of yet, their artificial reproduction is unachievable.
There remains, in addition, a gulf between biological growth and human controlled technology. These methods are not compatible. Human built complex chemical systems are assembled, whereas the biological systems are grown. Even the simplest biological cell cannot be disassembled and later reconstructed as if it were an AK-47.