Recently, it was revealed that scientists are studying the possibility of what they describe as a mirror cell which could be used to create a microbe that could duplicate the properties of DNA, only as a left-handed structure which is the reverse of the right-handed molecules and the left-handed proteins which are inevitably part of DNA’s basic structure and function; meaning, it would appear, that an alternative, reverse form of DNA and the proteins it uses to engender various life forms might actually be created in a laboratory somewhere.
This of course would mean that a whole other form of evolution might proceed from the creation of a mirror cell; one in which the inevitable evolutionary processes of DNA might be able to systematically proceed as an alternative Tree of Life, so to speak; something which a number of scientists, particularly synthetic biologists, find exciting because of the possibilities inherent in such an occurrence, such as the creation of bigger, more powerful proteins which might become extremely valuable to medical science and its procedures.
However, there are concerns among biologists who have studied the risks inherent in mirror cells, such as what would happen if a mirror cell escaped containment, and in doing so caused a world-wide catastrophe, such as a pandemic which couldn’t be stopped simply because either our bodies couldn’t build up the proper immunity to this strange pathogen, or else the biotechnology which exists at the time couldn’t put an end to it once it began, or if a mirror cell escaped from a lab or else was set free to attack people as a new biological weapon.
Yet, at the same time, there may be something even larger and more profound to consider, which is that DNA is the polestar of a process of evolution which is deeply spiritual in nature. That is, there is an intrinsic, one might even say otherworldly intelligence for how this incredible molecule evolved over time into a species (i.e. we humans) who have now developed both the intelligence and the technology to actually decode it at the smallest possible level; with the human species evolving, along with those of plants and other animals, at the exact moments in time in which planet earth had itself evolved to the point where those species were able to flourish.
If there is an incredible intelligence at work in the universe (not something religious directed by some imagined deity, but an intrinsic intelligence inside of things), one that we ourselves as humans are a part of, it seems hard to visualize a better example of this intrinsic intelligence than the evolutionary process itself. Therefore, because DNA is at the very essence of this process, there is indeed something which might be called spiritual (not religious but spiritual) about the molecule itself; one which because of its intrinsic, one might even say otherworldly nature we should probably not be trying to alter or change in any way.
There are indeed some things on our planet, in our universe, and inside ourselves which should be left alone simply because they likewise may be part of an intrinsic intelligence. To try to change these elemental processes in any way might indeed disturb a universal order which may be part of such a larger intelligence. That is, there may be occasions where the metaphysical is even more important than scientific discovery and progress. This may be one of those times.