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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://lnkd.in/eyZU783 View in LinkedIn

PROGRAMMING EXPLOSION. "Marc Andreessen wrote last year, “software is eating the world. Everything is becoming programmable." https://lnkd.in/e25r96z View in LinkedIn

DIGITAL DNA. "We successfully digitized biology by converting the four-letter chemical analog code (A, T, C, G) into the digital code of the computer (1s and 0s). Now we had successfully gone the other direction, starting with the digital code in the computer and re-creating the chemical information of the DNA molecule, then in turn creating living cells that, unlike any before, had no natural history." https://lnkd.in/eyZU783 View in LinkedIn

PROGRAMMABLE LIFE revolution parallels changing from an alphabet of ABC to 1/0; Craig Venter created the first synthetic cell from four bottles of inert chemicals; "we can now write the gene code for cells from scratch. This will transform almost all industries in the coming 50 years." https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLDADDDB6F05BF01D2&v=ZK8zo81gtH8 View in LinkedIn

CONTROLLING EVOLUTION. "Because it was clear that transplanting genomes and entire cells was an essential part of our evolution, I was confident that we could find a way to artificially transplant genomes." https://lnkd.in/eyZU783 View in LinkedIn

PROGRAMMABLE LIVING MATTER. "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." https://lnkd.in/dTQVWrg View in LinkedIn

“GENOME TRANSPLANTATION in Bacteria: Changing One Species to Another.” The research that led to this 2007 paper in Science not only shaped my view of life but also laid the groundwork that made it possible to create the first synthetic cell. Genome transplantation not only provided a way to carry out a striking transformation but would also help prove that DNA is the software of life." https://lnkd.in/eyZU783 View in LinkedIn

DEATH OF VITALISM: "The gap of taking inanimate objects and not starting with life and getting life from it is a hurdle that when crossed — it's inevitable that it will be crossed, and relatively soon, somewhere, but intellectually it's not a gap, but I think until it's done it's a big conceptual gap to society." (JCV). Spontaneous generation revived. https://lnkd.in/efE72eM 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://lnkd.in/eyZU783 View in LinkedIn

BOLD NEW PARADIGM: "DNA is the software of the cell, and when we change the software we change the species." (JCV). 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