[davideg]

I recognize that you might be motivated to explore removing and implanting mitochondria regardless of whether you consider it to be alive (as you might think about implanting an organ from another source).

I think the main point the author is making is to not fall prey to reductive thinking about mitochondria's potential and less about the question of "aliveness". We were all taught about mitochondria producing ATP, but it sounds like it serves many other functions and there's a lot more to explore about its potential in synthetic biology and therapeutics.