Yesterday, I talked about the worth of an individual life.  A couple of nights ago, at my atheist discussion group (via Zoom!), we heard and conversed about some recent developments in molecular biology (the presenter is a molecular biologist).  Just this year, a biologist was able to synthesize life, that is, through gene editing, he was able to "create" a new species (of bacteria).  Put another way, he became a creator.  Or as Dr. Frankenstein, in the Hollywood movie based on Mary Shelley's novel, said when he saw the "monster's" hand, the monster who, as he had earlier remarked, "I made," move, "Now I know what it's like to be God!"
     Indeed.  But did he really know what it's like to be God?  Moreover, as I mentioned in the discussion group, even if we "create" life, do we know what "life" is?  Is life more than the synthesis of chemicals and genes?  Is there something more to life than "beingness" (whatever this is)?  If there is not, we've reduced ourselves to chemical reactions, and nothing more.  As a result, we're left with Thomas Nagel's question in his Mind and Cosmos:  how then can we explain our mental and emotional states?  Do chemicals "birth" sentience?  Or is sentience more than the sum of its parts?
     If we're God, we've made a highly befuddling and essentially incomprehensible world!