Month: September 2022

THE CREATION OF LIFE FROM INFORMATION. "Venter had been the first person in history to make a functioning creature from information. Looking at the strings of letters representing the DNA sequence for a virus called phi X174, which infects bacteria, he thought to himself, "I can assemble real DNA based on that computer information." And so he did, creating a virus based on the phi X174 genomic code." https://lnkd.in/dyGvsfW View in LinkedIn

GAME CHANGER. "In 2010, biologist Craig Venter, already known as a key figure behind the mapping of the human genome, announced his creation of a microbe that earned the name Synthia: “the first self-replicating species on the planet whose parent was a computer.” https://lnkd.in/eFMx6_S View in LinkedIn

CONTROLLING EVOLUTION: "DNA is the software of the cell, and when we change the software we change the species." (Craig Venter). This is species change without the help of aeons of evolution, humans directly controlling evolution in a test-tube. https://lnkd.in/eJFrT_P View in LinkedIn

LIFE AS I.T. "We defined the terms “synthetic life” and “synthetic cells” in a reasonably specific way, as cells completely controlled only by a synthetic DNA chromosome. The synthetic genome was the software of life, which specified every protein robot in the cell, and therefore every one of the cell’s functions. From the public response to our announcement and scientific publication, however, it was clear that some found it hard to accept the concept of life as an information system." https://books.google.es/books/about/Life_at_the_Speed_of_Light.html?id=GWDD9yMb33cC&hl=en View in LinkedIn

DOMINION OVER NATURE. "The fusion of the digital world of the machine and that of biology would open up remarkable possibilities for creating novel species and guiding future evolution." https://books.google.es/books/about/Life_at_the_Speed_of_Light.html?id=GWDD9yMb33cC&hl=en View in LinkedIn

NEW DIGITAL LANGUAGE about biology introduces new concepts. Biology is informed by computer programming. DNA is informed by computer code. Equally, computing is informed by biology. The strategies of aberrant code are informed by prions and virus strategies. As we will see. View in LinkedIn

REDEFINING NATURE. "The potential of text, and of code that is currently built of text, is expanding in this era of the physical and the biological, where nature itself is being rethought and redefined." https://lnkd.in/dCVHq5S View in LinkedIn

THE FUTURE IS PROGRAMMABLE CELLS. "Thirty years ago, the future lay in programming computers. Today, it’s programming cells. That was the message of panelists at “Programming Life: the revolutionary potential of synthetic biology.” https://lnkd.in/dTQVWrg View in LinkedIn

MANIPULATION OF LIFE. "Juan Enriquez, a self-described “curiosity expert” and co-founder of the company Synthetic Genomics, compared the digital revolution spawned by thinking of information as a string of ones and zeros to the coming synthetic biology revolution, premised on thinking about life as a mix of interchangeable parts – genes and gene networks – that can be learned and manipulated like any language." http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/03/26/making-living-matter-programmable/ View in LinkedIn

REWRITING LIFE. "But the implications of being able to engineer cells go deeper, according to Enriquez. “This isn’t just about economic growth, this is also about where we are going as a human species,” he said. Humans will no longer merely adapt to or adopt the environment, but “begin to understand how life is written, how life is coded, how life is copied, and how you can rewrite life.” http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/03/26/making-living-matter-programmable/ View in LinkedIn