Beyond cyborgs: Will synthetic lifeforms reincarnate? Beyond the obvious legal and moral and cultural controversies regarding a certain lab created synthetic microbe called Synthia, the success of such a man-made life form evokes fascinating spiritual questions. The DNA in this tiny creature was hand stitched in its entirety from scientist-created bits. What will happen when our human DNA is eventually re-created molecule by molecule in the lab, resulting in a complete living and breathing person? This would not be a clone per say, but a completely synthetic human being. Beyond cyborg, as cyborgs contain mechanical or robotic parts along with the biological, and even far beyond babies created from eggs…

Can science explain away our beliefs? Are human spiritual beliefs just an byproduct of evolution or a product of our psychological readiness to accept vivid, memorable tales about the world around us? And for that matter, is the soul “nothing more than an emanation of our neuronal machinery”? The think-tank website Big Questions Online, offers an article that discusses these questions in a way that you may find interesting: Why We See Spirits and SoulsUnderstanding the neurobiology of religious belief is a far cry from explaining it away.By Michael Graziano Scientific anti-theism began, arguably, with Thomas Huxley, the 19th-century champion of the theory of evolution who styled himself “Darwin’s bulldog.”…