Playing God (Documentary Review)

 

Playing God is a riveting new BBC Documentary presented by Dr. Adam Rutherford that explores the leaps and bounds science is making in its pursuit of engineering new life here on earth.  Synthetic biology,  a  science that has recently been emerging in laboratories around the world, promises a future that challenges the limits of most people's imaginations.  It is both controversial and has endless positive implications. Its propensity towards increasing the quality and longevity of life here on earth  leaves the viewer in a type of trance,  possibilities dancing about in one's mind while simultaneously fathoming the reality of what is being played out on the screen before them.

The documentary leads us up a spiral staircase. Each step reveals more and more the heights to which man has already ascended while foreshadowing some of the steps that we are nearly upon. The top is nowhere to be seen. There simply are no limits to where man might someday soar.  Goats that lactate spider silk and the first ever synthetic life form having its own biology and being created by a computer are already past achievements. The list goes on and on.

There are considerable reservations that people have towards this type of technology taking a foothold in our world. Is it right for us to assume a role which, since the very beginning,  has been exclusively reserved for God? Is it right for us to play God?

One example of an area  where researchers believe this technology will bear obvious positive fruit in is that of medical research.  Scientists have already successfully tested out in laboratories synthetic cells that are programed to seek out and destroy cancer cells when introduced into an organism. Regardless of the potential misgivings towards this new strange, exciting yet conflicting technology, anyone that has been touched by the horrors of cancer would most likely be overjoyed by this type of technology being introduced and available to the masses. Some might even consider such technology a miracle.

Synthetic biology has also gone industrial. The film reveals how corporations are hiring scientists to develop ways in which they can reprogram the cells in yeast to produce diesel rather than alcohol. What takes nature hundreds of thousands of years to produce now takes researchers a day. The very idea of nations being able to produce their own fuel rather than being dependent on acquiring it from other countries could have dramatic consequences.


Individuals can actually go on the internet and order "bio bricks", DNA sequences that can be used when put with other bricks to create biological machines. Does it sound like something that could only happen in a science fiction movie? Maybe to a lot of us. But it's already being done all over the world.

This documentary does raise an important question voiced by Dr. Rutherford. He asks:

"Where do we draw the line between what synthetic biology might be capable of doing and what we think is safe and desirable? Should synthetic biology be allowed out of the lab at all?"

The film points out an apparent contradiction. Dr. Rutherford states, "On the one hand most scientists argue that synthetic life forms should be kept in the lab and yet we are using synthetic biology to produce these life forms to be sent out in the world for our benefit."  Scientists argue that there is a factor that reconciles this contradiction. They have control over the life forms they create. They have designed these cells with built in safety mechanisms that have "kill switches" so to speak. These new life forms are created in very specific conditions and very specific conditions allow them to continue to exist. Remove the conditions and the biological cells will no longer exist. But even scientists admit that safety measures can never be assured 100%. There are always risks.

Dr. Rutherford brings up an example of one negative effect this new technology can have.  "Feeding these synthetic lifeforms could ultimately threaten the livelihood of some of the poorest people in the world. " A lot of these new biological systems being produced need sugar in order to thrive and exist. Corporations are already voraciously consuming great quantities of these natural resources in order to test out and create biological systems.

Another concern many have regarding this new science is its accessibility for even the person at home to now create new bacterias and biological machines. This breakthrough technology might leave a window of opportunity that otherwise wouldn't have existed for those with malicious intentions to act them out on a grander scale.

Despite the concerns synthetic biology might bring to the table it is here to stay and is flourishing. What are your thoughts towards this new science? Should we go full speed ahead at creating new biological organisms and machines or is there a line that should be drawn when moving forward?

Please leave your thoughts in the comments section! Thank you!