by Thomas W. Clark

About the author: Thomas W. Clark is a frequent contributor to the Humanist, a supporter of the philosophy of naturalism, and a research associate at Health and Addictions Research, Inc., in Boston, a nonprofit firm that conducts research on addictions, behavioral health, and criminal justice.

The December 1999 issue of Science magazine reported that scientists may eventually pin down a “minimum genome”: the bare bones, molecularly speaking, of what it takes to make a living organism. The biological interplay of DNA, proteins, and other subcellular components in supporting the necessary functions of life—in this case, a very simple bacterium—would be completely understood. Nothing mysterious or “protoplasmic” would remain: the very mechanism of life would stand revealed in all its complexity.

The same issue of Science...