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The Red Queen versus Craig Venter’s new cell

Here is why Craig Venter’s new organism carries absolutely
no fears for me: the Red Queen. Evolution is a treadmill.

People speak about artificial life forms getting loose and running amok. But that’s not
how life works. It’s a jungle out there.

Nature is continually trying new life forms on a truly gigantic
scale and testing them against each other. Very few get to take
over the world even briefly and even they soon succumb to evolving
predators, parasites and competitors.

Anything a piddling little human mind — or even one as big as
Craig Venter’s — can design is going to be easy meat for the
waiting hordes of predators, parasites and competitors. Don’t
forget that organisms are food.

(A funny version of Craig Venter’s news at Discover’s Blog)

By Matt Ridley | Tagged:  rational-optimist