人工合成生命:有机生命的机械制造

Synthesizing Life:The Mechanical Manufacture of Organic Life

以机械论知识为指导的人工合成生命实际上就是有机生命的机械制造,但机械论知识并不能涵盖“生命密码本”的复杂性、生命系统的有机性以及生命形成的自创生,导致人工合成生命存在诸多不确定性。因而,要全面预测人工合成生命自创生环节可能出现的意外情况,进行预先处理以避免实验室事故的发生;要严格评估合成生命对食物链、生物多样性以及自然环境的影响,采取技术手段防范生态灾难的发生;要深入评判合成生命在进化过程中与自然生命进行基因交流的能力,采取有效措施阻止进化风险的发生。只有在机械论知识与有机体知识、生态知识、进化知识相结合的条件下,人工合成生命的实践才能走上合理的道路。

Synthesizing life guided by mechanistic knowledge is the mechanical manufacture of organic life.However,mechanistic knowledge cannot cover all the laws of living organisms completely.It is necessary to predict and pretreat all possible accidents in the autopoietic process of synthesizing life to avoid the occurrence of laboratory accidents.The impact of synthetic life on food chain,biodiversity and natural environment should be strictly evaluated to prevent ecological disasters.The ability of synthetic life to communicate with natural life should be evaluated to prevent the occurrence of evolutionary risks.Only when mechanistic knowledge is combined with organic knowledge,ecological knowledgeand evolutionary knowledge,can the practice of synthesizing life embark on the road of rational development.