When Information Gives Birth to Life: Artificial Viruses and the Border Crossing of Science by Eckert Wimmer (2002).

When Information Gives Birth to Life: Artificial Viruses and the Border Crossing of Science by Eckert Wimmer (2002).

In 2002, German virologist Eckard Wimmer published a study that had a worldwide impact in both the life sciences and biosecurity. He had succeeded in synthesizing the poliovirus (poliomyelitis virus) completely artificially without collecting it from nature. The research was published in the scientific journal "Science" and was based on the RNA sequence data of the poliovirus that was publicly available on the Internet. The idea was to reconstruct a virus that was actually infectious.

While this achievement is regarded as a scientific accomplishment that demonstrated the view that life is not matter but information, it also raised serious ethical and social issues. This is because it became clear that pathogens could be artificially created using only data and technology, without using any viruses that exist in nature. There was a growing sense among governments and research institutes around the world that such technology, if used for malicious purposes, could be used to artificially create biological weapons. Especially since the 9/11 terrorist attacks had just occurred, concerns about bioterrorism were perceived as a realistic threat.

Wimmer himself defended transparency of information and scientific freedom, and stated that he had thought carefully about the social implications of publishing his research. His position was that it is rather impractical to block scientific progress for fear of danger, and he stressed that scientists have a responsibility to treat information correctly. This research is regarded as an important early milestone in synthetic biology, and has had a major impact on the subsequent development of biotechnology and genome engineering.

This event is also a symbolic example of how, as science advances, the question of how its results should be received and managed by society becomes increasingly important. The balance between the significance and danger of research results, the pros and cons of their disclosure, and science and ethics is still being questioned.