Artificial life’s practical implications are no less sweeping than its scientific implications. It can guide how we use new technologies for extending life and creating new forms of it, including drugs, prosthetics, the Internet, evolvable hardware, and proliferating robots. It has a vast potential for both good and harm, with a serious need for public debate and ethical clarity...

Artificial life’s ethical issues somewhat resemble those concerning animal experimentation, genetic engineering, and artificial intelligence. The extensive literature on the ethical issues raised in those three fields may provide some guidance for exploring the ethical issues in artificial life. On the other hand, creating novel forms of life and interacting with them in novel ways will place us in increasingly uncharted ethical terrain.