Alive but Not Alive

According to a recent , people are now able to create “living” cells from scratch, known as the Spudcell. Spudcells are cells that act just like a normal cell, such as reproducing and competing for food, except they are completely manmade. Is this even possible? What might it this mean for the future? As far as we know, the research team at the University of Minnesota not only did not patent their creation, but they even encouraged other scientists to work with them to further develop the Spudcells. Perhaps soon, people will even be able to recreate a human from scratch, which is different from cloning.

However, whether this manmade organism is a cell or a human, is it truly alive? Although it seems impossible to create a living thing that mimics real-life behavior, it might not be. Considering For instance, AI is also coded to mimic human language, thus seeming to understand humor and emotion. Why can’t behavior also be coded into Spudcells? Hypothetically, if scientists did end up creating an organism capable of feeling or thinking, would they be able to? Or would they just think or feel because they are only coded that way?

I would compare Spudcells to the creation of vehicles, electricity, and many more novel inventions., It is something we had never seen before nor ever something have I had ever thought of before it, just like past technologies., but For now, I remain skeptical of this creation.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/07/01/science/spudcells-synthetic-cell.html