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Team:Copenhagen/Ethics/MinimalCellDiscussion
From 2011.igem.org
The minimal cell
Does any cell have a moral status? Does being alive confer moral status on an organism.
Is the moral status the same for a sentient being as it is for a non-sentient?
If we can act in a way that harms an organism, then some people argue that we should consider them to have moral status even if this status doesn’t entail that they should be considered as being of the same moral importance as sentient and thinking beings.
Would the first few examples of a new form of life created in the lab be like the last remaining examples of a threatened species?
If we assume that a cell can have a moral status:
Are there any differences in moral status between E.coli and a mammalian cell? How significant should the manipulation of the organism be for it to lose its moral status? Can it ever lose its moral status?
When does a cell acquire a moral status as a living being? If we build a cell from scratch, from for example biobricks, what would be the minimal requirements for it to be considered having a moral status? What type of moral status would pertain to this strain. Should we from now on treat it as a new species on the brink of extinction?
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