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Announcement of CRISPR technology, which allows precise editing of the human genome, has been heralded as the future of individualized medicine, and a decried as a slippery slope to engineering individual human qualities. Of course, humans already know how to manipulate animal genomes through selective breeding, but there has been no appetite to try on humans what is the norm for dogs. That’s a good thing, says Dawkins. The results could well be dangerous. Does technology as a whole represent a threat to human welfare if it continues to evolve at its current rate? Not so fast, warns Dawkins. Comparing biological evolution to technological progress is an analogy at best. His newest book is Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist.

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Transcript: I think it’s — I’m a believer in the precautionary principle as I’ve just said, and I think we have to worry about possible consequences of things that we do, and the ability to edit our own genomes is one thing we ought to worry about. I’m not sure it’s so much an ethical problem as a more practical problem. What would the consequences be? Would the consequences be bad? And they might be.

I think it’s worth noticing that long before CRISPR long before it became capable of editing our genomes in anyway we have been editing the genomes of domestic animals and plants by artificial selection, not artificial mutation, which is what we’re now talking about, but artificial selection. When you think that a Pekingese is a wolf, a modified wolf, a genetically modified wolf—modified not by directly manipulating genes but by choosing for breeding individuals who have certain characteristics, for example, a small stubbed nose, et cetera, and making a wolf turn into a Pekingese. And we’ve been doing that very successfully with domestic animals like dogs, cows, domestic plants like maize for a long time, we’ve never done that to humans or hardly at all.

Continue reading “The Dangers of CRISPR, Designer Babies, and Artificial Genetic Mutation” | >

Our Andromeda interstellar probe article has been featured in MlT Technology Review :

Business Impact.

Femto-spacecraft could travel to alpha centauri.

Earth’s nearest exoplanet twin orbits a star about four light years from here. Now scientists say it’s possible to visit this system in our lifetimes by propelling a tiny spacecraft on the tip of a laser beam.

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    Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Friday at a meeting of students in Yaroslavl, Russia about the development of artificial intelligence (AI). In a rather ominous sounding warning, the leader stated that “the one who becomes the leader in this sphere will be the ruler of the world.”

    Many of those working in the field see AI as a tool for making humanity better, while others foresee it as a harbinger of doom for the human species. Not many high profile people — especially the leader of the largest nation on Earth — have come forward to blatantly express the potential of AI to be a tool of immense power for a nation to wield.

    President Putin went on to say that “it would be strongly undesirable if someone wins a monopolist position,” implying that Russia’s breakthroughs would ideally be shared with other nations.

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    A Stanford team has launched a new challenge on the Eterna computer game. Players will design a CRISPR-controlling molecule, and with it open the possibility of new research and therapies.

    A team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has launched a new challenge for the online computer game Eterna in which players are being asked to design an RNA molecule capable of acting as an on/off switch for the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9.

    Molecular biologists will then build and test the actual molecules, based on the most promising designs provided by the players.

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    Chinese electronics giant Huawei on Saturday unveiled its first mobile personal assistant with artificial intelligence in Berlin, in hopes it will rival the dominance of Samsung’s Bixby and Apple’s Siri.

    “Smartphones are smart but they are not intelligent enough,” Richard Yu, of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, said at this year’s IFA electronics fair.

    The mobile assistant, called Kirin 970, will systematically respond to three questions—” the most important combination,” Yu said: Where is the user? Who are they and what are they doing?

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    How do we make it in today’s crazy, alternative facts, almost alternative world–we get creative, we get INNOVATIVE. Here on ScIQ, we’re talking to two incredible innovators in medical sciences and human health.

    Just in her 20s, Kathrine Jin was part of the team of Columbia University students who developed a low-cost, technology-driven solution to meet the urgent challenges posed by the Ebola crisis. She has been honored the United Nations in celebration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science for her part in the creation of Highlight, a patent-pending disinfectant solution.
    Learn more about Kinnos here: https://www.kinnos.us/about-us/

    When he’s not working at MLB, Keith Comito works with his research group, LifeSpan I.O. in projects related to longevity or age related disease, and receive funds from contributors to fulfill their goals. Thanks to generous funding and awards towards life-changing research, Lifespan I.O. has currently completed 6 diverse projects, which you can find on Lifespan I.O’s website.
    Learn about Lifespan I.O here: https://www.lifespan.io/

    This video is presented by Jayde Lovell, at Youtube Space NY. Written by Wandy Oritz, directed by Ingrid Nin, edited by Mashnoon Ibtesum at the YouTube Space NYC. Camera work by Alicia Weaver, Lisa McCullough, Genesis Moran and Mashnoon Ibtesum. Production Assistant: Jordan Yaqoob

    SCIQ ON THE YOUNG TURKS
    Produced by Jayde Lovell and Wandy Ortiz.
    Executive Producer: Bec Susan Gill.
    ScIQ is a partner of the The Young Turks Network.

    Follow SciQ on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ScIQ_TYT
    Support ScIQ on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sciQ
    Follow SciQ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sciq.tyt?ref=hl
    Follow ScIQ on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sciq_tyt/

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    http://gamesforchange.org/festival2012

    How to “Get Better”: Approaches to LGBTQ-relevant Video Games
    Presented by: Robert Yang

    Given today’s attempts at LGBTQ outreach and advocacy, e.g. the “It Gets Better” campaign, it makes sense to explore more queer-relevant content through engaging and thoughtful video game design. So how do we get LGBTQ content “right”? For that matter, what does “LGBTQ content” even entail? What are the ways that video games imply notions of gender and sexuality through their graphics, sounds, interfaces, and mechanics? Listeners will take away design techniques to integrate socially relevant content into games, ethical concerns in doing so, and a very brief overview of LGBTQ issues.

    Crafting Science Learning Games that People Will Play — Two Voices, One Goal.

    Continue reading “#G4C12: Rants” | >