Philosophical and Cultural Engagement
All life on Earth speaks a single molecular language: the universal genetic code. For nearly four billion years, every organism- from bacteria to humans - has used the same core rules to translate genes into proteins. This fundamental unity was forged through constant genetic exchange across the tree of life, establishing the code as the true "lingua franca" of the biosphere.
Can we experimentally alter this code - its alphabet, syntax, and chemistry - to create truly alternative biological systems based on new genetic alphabets and alternative biochemical codes? If so, the consequences would extend far beyond classical biology and biotechnology.
By moving from classical and synthetic biology to Xenobiology, we seek to understand not only how life works, but whether it might work differently. In doing so, we aim to test our capacity to reshape, rewrite, and ultimately reinvent the grammar of life - by changing its very chemical foundation.
Can the genetic code itself be rewritten? If not, why is it immutable? And if it can, how far can we go - and what would such a transformation mean for society, technology, and philosophy?
This pursuit is not only a technological challenge but also a philosophical one, with consequences extending well beyond the laboratory - spanning:
- Technological impacts (new inventions).
- Ideological impacts (new political or social philosophies).
- Cultural impacts (changes in art, literature, and daily life).
- Epistemological impacts (what we consider "knowable" or "true").
In short, rewriting the code of life is both a scientific challenge and a cultural journey - one that asks humanity to reconsider what it means to be alive.
The genetic code, therefore, is not a blueprint but a grammar - a rule system that turns information into function. Indeed, we can edit genomes, swap genes, modify proteins & metabolites and redesign circuits.
Yet until we fundamentally rewrite the code itself, we have not created a new form of life; we have merely rearranged appearances within the same transcendental framework. In Kantian terms, current synthetic biology has modified the phenomena - but has not yet touched the noumenon, the thing-in-itself.
For a full discussion, see our manuscript: “Historical Paradigm Shifts in Defining Life: From Spontaneous Generation and Vitalism to the Pasteurian Wall and the Quest for Artificial Creation” (part of the Research Topic) “Navigating the Frontier: Ethical Considerations, Policies, and Societal Impacts of Synthetic Biology” in Frontiers in Synthetic Biology 3:1692648, doi:10.3389/fsybi.2025.1692648.
