A new article on gene hacking got me thinking about how in cryptospace we will soon have the technology to access super computing from our smart phones or tablet devices. The cost of genome sequencing is going to be under $1000 if it isn't already and with access to machine learning and computation resources being decentralized it means anyone will be able to alter their genes. The technology to do gene alterations can be done using CRISPR or some more rogue yet lesser known techniques.
Zayner, a biohacker–basically meaning he experiments with biology in a DIY lab rather than a traditional one–was giving a talk called “A Step-by-Step Guide to Genetically Modifying Yourself With CRISPR” at the SynBioBeta conference in San Francisco, where other presentations featured academics in suits and the young CEOs of typical biotech startups. Unlike the others, he started his workshop by handing out shots of scotch and a booklet explaining the basics of DIY genome engineering.
There are of course risks if a person modifies genes they do not understand. The technology and more importantly the accessibility and lower barrier to entry will mean more people will understand the genetics technology or perhaps their intelligent agents will understand it on their behalf. Gene therapy for example may be able to make a person immune to HIV for instance as some people have a gene which allows their immune system to fight HIV. Gene therapy may also reduce all sorts of risks or even slow aging if it is figured out the genes which can help.
Perhaps the most interesting quote:
.“You don’t need to know what promoter to use to make this gene or this piece of DNA work,” he says, using some technical terms for the DNA engineering process. “You don’t want to know what terminator to use, or origin of replication . . . The DNA programmer should know how to do that stuff. But the only thing you should have to know is, alright, I want to engineer a mushroom to be purple. That’s as difficult as it should be for a human being to genetically modify something. All of that’s totally possible–it’s just building the infrastructure and platform so someone can do that.”
And should that platform be decentralized, run in network fashion, accessible to all humanity? These are questions of debate but the world will be very different if morphological freedom is respected. In a world with morphological freedom what happens to archaic concepts like "race"? A lifeform which can alter it's own genetics by programming new genes into itself with the help of machine learning is where we are today. Tomorrow it could even be so advanced that a lifeform's genetics could be entirely directed by AI which programs or makes changes as necessary.
Currently AI is not yet sophisticated enough to replace the human researcher and is only just an aid to that research. Human researchers are conducting experiments on embryos in a trial and error based approach:
Dr Niakan said: “One way to find out what a gene does in the developing embryo is to see what happens when it isn’t working.
Over time from this approach we will be able to deduce what different genes do and populate a database. The machine intelligence can then process this information to help with simulations or to suggest approaches to the human researchers. Over time as AI becomes more capable of doing research and science then someday in our lifetime it will all be conducted by intelligent agents which will be able to run thousands of simulations of gene combinations. Utilizing a blockchain data structure AI and decentralized computation can enable a situation where no specific family or group has a monopoly or exclusive benefits from gene hacking.
What are your thoughts on this?
