Of the two, it is hard to say which places the larger burden of responsibilities on our shoulders. Here and there we create space for other varieties of life to emerge. Juvenile delinquent hackers launch potent computer viruses. Japanese industrialists weld together smart painting robots. Hollywood directors create virtual dinosaurs.
Biochemists squeeze self-evolving molecules into tiny plastic test tubes.
Someday, we will create an open-ended world that can keep going, and keep creating perpetual novelty. When we do we will have created another living vector in the life space. When Danny Hillis says he wants to make a computer that would be proud of him, he isn't kidding. To give open-ended life. To say, here's your life and the car keys.