We have created electronic life already. There are quite a few examples of living programs that reproduce, adapt and compete on there own without human interferance once their virtual "world" has been set up. Some people will no doubt say these programs aren't really alive because of their limited enviroment, they only exist inside a computer, but I figure that if a parasitic worm that only lives under hippotamuses eyelids is considered alive despite its limited environment, why not these programs?