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the_real_chertoday at 6:07 PM7 repliesview on HN

It's wild that in the year 2026 modern science can't recreate a SINGLE cell (which is what a human egg/ovum is).


Replies

ekjhgkejhgktoday at 7:12 PM

It wouldn't be wild if you understood how complex cells are.

arjietoday at 6:30 PM

Well, that seems a bit reductive because nothing can create a single cell right now. All cells are self-copied-and-divided. Omnis cellula e cellula, as they say. There is no cell constructor anywhere. Both Nature and Artifice use the same device to make more cells: a previous cell.

peddling-brinktoday at 6:15 PM

Trees are high technology. I’m not sure we’ll match that even in 100 years.

DanielHBtoday at 7:09 PM

To encode all the atomic data and relative position of a single human cell probably would take a good chunk of all the hard drives in the world. A cell is not like a silicon chip where 99% of it is just repeating the same patterns.

benlivengoodtoday at 6:38 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoplasma_laboratorium describes the closest we've gotten; synthesizing the DNA and swapping it into an existing cell which then propagates the synthetic gene line.

jokowueutoday at 6:10 PM

it's possible to convert stem cells or skin cells into functional egg cells (ova) in lab settings, though the technology remains experimental and not yet ready for routine clinical use

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ravenstinetoday at 7:09 PM

I honestly don't look forward to the day that we can do that. It may redefine our very existence more so than even automation.

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