How to End Humanity with Synthetic Biology
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How to End Humanity with Synthetic Biology
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Location: Zoom
Date: Saturday 16th May
Role: Author & Entrepreneur
The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically impacted society, shutting down countries and stalling economies. There have now been over 10 million reported cases worldwide and over 500,000 deaths. While it has been an unprecedented event for modern times, it provides a warning for the devastating impact viruses can have.
H5N1, a virus more deadly than COVID-19 but it did not have the same impact, as it was not as contagious. So, what are the chances of a disease like that H5N1 occurring in nature which is as infectious as COVID-19?
With increasing evidence that COVID-19 may have originated from a laboratory, perhaps it is humans who pose the most significant risk.
With synthetic biology advancing at an exponential rate, it may not be long until the tools needed to create a highly contagious and devastatingly deadly virus with the potential to wipe out humanity are available to anyone.
While this sounds scary, the same tools could also cure cancer, aids, and malaria; even end shortages in organs and solve global hunger with lab-grown meat.
In this interview, recorded for my previous audio documentary The Future of Technology, I talk to author Rob Reid. We discuss Synthetic Biology and how it will simultaneously provide us with tools to cure disease and end humanity.
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Mentioned in the show:
Wikipedia: Arab Spring
Geekwire: From Rhapsody to Napster: How this pioneering music service coulda been Spotify — and why it isn’t
Wikipedia: DNA
Wikipedia: RNA
Wikipedia: RNA vaccine
The Conversation: Coronavirus: A new type of vaccine using RNA could help defeat COVID-19
Wikipedia: Exponential growth
The Genius Works: Demonstrating "exponential growth" by folding a sheet of paper in half ... to the moon and beyond!
Genome: Human Genome Project
Science Daily: Synthetic biology used to target cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue
Forbes: This Synthetic Biology Company Is On The Cusp Of Using Live, Engineered Bacteria As A Cancer Drug
Synbiobeta: The Solution To the Human Organ Shortage May Be Found in Pigs—Literally.
Wikipedia: Xenotransplantation
Wikipedia: Impossible Foods
NPR: Memphis Meats Raises $161 Million To Bring Cell-Based Meat To Consumers : The Salt
TED: How synthetic biology could wipe out humanity -- and how we can stop it
Wikipedia: Arthur Samuel
Wikipedia: 2017 Las Vegas shooting
Business Insider: Las Vegas shooting: Timeline shows how it unfolded, over one year later
Wikipedia: Columbine High School massacre
Wikipedia: Germanwings Flight 9525
Wikipedia: Influenza A virus subtype H5N1
Harvard: CRISPR: A game-changing genetic engineering technique - Science in the News
Wikipedia: CRISPR
Vox: A simple guide to CRISPR, one of the biggest science stories of the decade
American Scientist: AI is blurring the definition of artist
The Conversation: China and AI: what the world can learn and what it should be wary of
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