Hacking Evolution Are You Prepared

when you see

this incredible transformation of

spider-man

what do you think of that this

is just some part of a cool fiction

story right

i mean nothing like this would actually

happen

in the real world well

what if i told you that what you just

saw

is actually not that far-fetched

what if i told you that this bizarre

phenomenon

of a spider’s dna being incorporated

into humans

might actually be possible now

genetic engineering it’s happening

right now and the coolest part

is that this technology is new

so how did i come across

such a peculiar topic well

it all started in the very stuffy

biology lab of my high school

just a normal day where usually i’d be

counting the minutes for the bell to

ring for break

but this lesson was a bit different it

was the first time that we had talked

about what

dna actually is and the immense

importance it has in all of us

something so microscopic found in you

in me and then every living thing on

this planet

and is unique for each and every one of

us

what i learned was that dna is

essentially

the book of life and what this

technology

has the ability to do is rewrite this

pre-written script

of our whole being as we know it

so i was instantly fascinated about the

immense

possibilities this meant for the

scientific world that i thought

maybe this is what i wanted to pursue as

a career

to no surprise my parents were quite

confused about the whole idea

i mean in a time where teenagers like me

strive to pursue

amazing careers such as medicine

mathematics law

i was telling them i wanted to pursue

a career that would involve me doing

weird experiments for the rest of my

life

my curiosity though didn’t stop at high

school

that very summer i applied to multiple

internships

at the cyprus institute of neurology and

genetics

there i met researchers and they

enchanted me with their years of work

and the different methods that they used

only to end it all

with so yeah this has been our project

for the past 20 years

uh none of it worked as you can imagine

it was a huge kick in the head for me

but at the end of the day any finding in

science is important

no matter the outcome

there was one thing though i was very

excited about

i had the chance to extract my very own

dna the very fact

i held my own genetic code in my hands

was absolutely mind-blowing

i raised my little test tube in the

light

to reveal a tiny string

in which that tiny string is literally

what makes me me

and the coolest part is that with this

technology

that tiny string can be read

and molded into something different

so you might be wondering valeria

why is this relevant now why should we

the people care

about what crazy experiments scientists

do in their little rabbit holes of labs

well genetic engineering it’s happening

now people

if you have dna and care about your

health

and the future of our species then this

directly involves you

we are in the midst of a genetic

revolution

and we are nowhere near ready or

prepared to control or handle

the changes coming our way

so today i will talk to you about two

uses

of this technology that i came across

and found very interesting

and believe will revolutionize our speed

our species

as well as dive into the ethics of it

all

so use number one healthcare

genome editing can be greatly owed to

the famous human genome project

of 2003 where scientists could read

every single piece of our dna what does

that mean

well from billions and trillions of a

g t’s and c’s scientists could figure

out

the color of your eyes personality

traits

and maybe what you are allergic to

without ever having met you

now imagine if your doctor had this

detailed information

about you what we have now is

generalized health care

meaning everyone receives more or less

the same treatment for common issues

but what if we shifted to specialized

health care

tailored and designed just for you

essentially what we have now is sick

care you get sick

and then you get taken care of but what

if we had the alternative

your doctor would know possible genetic

diseases that could arrive

arise in your lifetime and help you

prepare

for what is to come with genetic

engineering

we have the ability to end many if not

most

genetic diseases such as thalassemia

or cystic fibrosis now this may all

sound very

convenient however we must be sure that

this is regular

regulated appropriately as such

sensitive information

could end up in the wrong hands

now let’s consider use number two of

gene editing

the leisure aspect or the cosmetic use

at some point in your life i think we

have all blamed

certain undesired characteristics on the

genes of our family

whether it be anger issues or hair type

or nose size

well what if you had the choice

to not pass down these characteristics

to your child

you might have seen this coming i am

talking about designer

babies funnily enough it’s as close to

build-a-bear

as you think this however

is illegal because it is

very important to know that it is one

thing to permanently mess

with a human genome and a totally

different thing to just

change how some genes are expressed

do you think designer babies will be the

new norm

well if the people want it and ask for

it the companies will supply it

so it is up to us to see whether this

practice will become normalized

or restricted another

leisure use of this technology can be

found in the category of biohacking

think of biohacking as diy biology

it covers a huge range of activities

from performing multiple experiments on

different organisms

to even changing your own biology for

example

taking a young person’s blood injecting

it into your veins

in the hopes that it’ll fight aging and

yes that’s a real thing

and it’s called young blood transfusion

an example of a biohacker is former nasa

member

josiah zainer he believes that

everyone should conduct genetic

engineering

even in their own basements hence his

company called odin which delivers

ge kits to your door

he is of the belief that

we need people who have a combination of

knowledge

and a little bit of crazy they will be

the ones willing to take the risks

there is a whole community of biohackers

out there

conducting crazy experiments that we are

completely

unaware of yet this

could be a form of science moving

forward

i said it before and i’ll say it again

genetic engineering

it’s happening right now

we are hacking evolution

now i just want to take a moment to take

all this in

where do we go from here listen to that

one more time

hacking evolution

no longer are we constricted by our own

dna

we won’t be able to enhance our species

in any way

we’d like is it what someone would

consider natural

maybe not now but at the end of the day

we will be the ones to decide

what is take the disease

malaria for example it kills about 220

million people per year

figures that are much scarier than

copenhagens just to put into perspective

it can be eradicated by genetically

engineering

male mosquitoes that become infertile

which would then lead to species

extinction

is that natural probably not as

exterminating a whole species cannot be

done without any severe consequences

however will we consider this as

adaptation

as survival of the fittest is this the

way we want to go

this technology is not so different from

others

take nuclear power for example do you

think scientists

discovered it thinking that humans would

take it

and make bombs no they thought about the

clean and renewable energy it would

bring up

bring us well it’s the same with this

this is why i want to talk to you about

this today

to create awareness i’m not asking you

to go read books about this or watch

lectures

however it is crucial that we are

educated

and form an opinion as a society as we

will decide the use of this

in our future what i told you here today

will be part of our lives genetic

engineering

is the future whether you like it or not

what we must do is familiarize ourselves

with it

and make sure we push it in a positive

and safe

direction we are

at an era where with the knowledge

and the supplies that we have anything

is possible

with these tools we can build mountains

but just as well destroy the skies

one can say this better than with the

person who started this talk

in the first place and i would like to

close it full circle

with him with great power

comes great responsibility thank you