The grandparent post was modded as flamebait, but the religious flame war is in real life. From the parent's article:

However, with this step forward comes a new set of ethical considerations, say experts. “We need to be critically aware of the profound implications of creating synthetic life,” said Karl Giberson, director of the Forum on Faith and Science at Gordon College in Wenham. “I don’t think this is something to be scared of. I don’t think Mother Nature is being violated in some egregious way. But this is an area of science with important ethical considerations, and religious sensibilities and higher priorities need to be on the table, under discussion.”

It's a pretty moderate response, but even so, it conflates ethics and religion, implying that the ethical decisions should be based on theology. The grandparent is right - this is going to be a culture war thing.

Thank you! It's Poe's Law.

What is the name of that phenomenon where it becomes impossible to distinguish actual right-wing views from sarcastic parodies?

We should just do away with paper money and only use gold.

The United States is a Christian nation, so we should teach in public schools that the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

Our president is likely an Islamic terrorist sleeper agent planted here decades ago in order to become president and enact terror-friendly laws.

Whoever this fucktard is

He is a top-tier science fiction author with Hugo and Locus awards, including a nomination this year. Before that, he was a programmer and tech journalist with a monthly column on Linux.

Unless they are being forced to work in this factory as literal slaves, the fact that they're doing it probably means it's the best option available. By all means lean on the factory to improve conditions, but before taking the business elsewhere for the sake of the employees, find out what the employees would do otherwise. Work in an even worse factory? Become prostitutes? Starve?

Is it silly? If variable self-replicating patterns can be generated by plasma, you'd have the prerequisites for evolution even in the center of the sun.

It's completely possible that every respondent is above average, because everyone who frequents this forum is a genius and everyone who doesn't is a moron.

Oh wait... I meant to post this on Free Republic.

Quick, do the spine thingy! - Forward, Down, Forward, Low Punch

What a difference the internet has made on our sense of progress. Thank you Al Gore!

Maybe Adobe isn't worried about HTML 5 because their business model doesn't rely on rent-seeking behavior. They make good tools, too. It's not easy to do animations based on JavaScript plus the canvas tag, and that presents Adobe with an opportunity to build a library and a graphical tool for that. If they build such a thing on open standards, I won't be able to complain. Well, except about the price. :-/

On good days, Computer Science is to IT as Isaac Newton is to MacGyver.

On bad days, Computer Science is to IT as Karl Marx is to Joseph Stalin.

I suspect the only companies who are concerned with placing on the list are the ones who are very concerned with low morale and high turnover. I've seen it happen on a local level. Sweatshops place highly - comfortable workplaces don't appear.

Anyone who gives up on science because of this trifling matter is welcome to go back to the dark ages and live their short, wholesome, science-free life.

The problem is that in a democratic system, they have the power to take the rest of us into the dark ages with them.

I'm trying to make this into an art form with my new blog. I write completely fabricated science stories with the "ring of truth." My goal is to author a meme with the power of "Did you know we only use ten percent of our brains?" or "Did you know a dog's mouth is actually cleaner than a human's?"

AOL Acquires Time Warner in Largest Ever Expenditure of Pretend Internet Money

It's good news because it will help kill IE6, which has serious CSS rendering problems and doesn't support PNG24 graphics.

As of today, IE6 still has significant market penetration. My guess is that corporate users keep that number high.