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