The Synthetic Age

Author : Christopher J. Preston
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2019-02-19
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780262537094

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The Synthetic Age by Christopher J. Preston Pdf

Imagining a future in which humans fundamentally reshape the natural world using nanotechnology, synthetic biology, de-extinction, and climate engineering. We have all heard that there are no longer any places left on Earth untouched by humans. The significance of this goes beyond statistics documenting melting glaciers and shrinking species counts. It signals a new geological epoch. In The Synthetic Age, Christopher Preston argues that what is most startling about this coming epoch is not only how much impact humans have had but, more important, how much deliberate shaping they will start to do. Emerging technologies promise to give us the power to take over some of Nature's most basic operations. It is not just that we are exiting the Holocene and entering the Anthropocene; it is that we are leaving behind the time in which planetary change is just the unintended consequence of unbridled industrialism. A world designed by engineers and technicians means the birth of the planet's first Synthetic Age. Preston describes a range of technologies that will reconfigure Earth's very metabolism: nanotechnologies that can restructure natural forms of matter; “molecular manufacturing” that offers unlimited repurposing; synthetic biology's potential to build, not just read, a genome; “biological mini-machines” that can outdesign evolution; the relocation and resurrection of species; and climate engineering attempts to manage solar radiation by synthesizing a volcanic haze, cool surface temperatures by increasing the brightness of clouds, and remove carbon from the atmosphere with artificial trees that capture carbon from the breeze. What does it mean when humans shift from being caretakers of the Earth to being shapers of it? And in whom should we trust to decide the contours of our synthetic future? These questions are too important to be left to the engineers.

Author : Christopher James Preston
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Technological innovations
ISBN : 0262345293

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The Synthetic Age by Christopher James Preston Pdf

Imagining a future in which humans fundamentally reshape the natural world using nanotechnology, synthetic biology, de-extinction, and climate engineering. We have all heard that there are no longer any places left on Earth untouched by humans. The significance of this goes beyond statistics documenting melting glaciers and shrinking species counts. It signals a new geological epoch. In The Synthetic Age, Christopher Preston argues that what is most startling about this coming epoch is not only how much impact humans have had but, more important, how much deliberate shaping they will start to do. Emerging technologies promise to give us the power to take over some of Nature's most basic operations. It is not just that we are exiting the Holocene and entering the Anthropocene; it is that we are leaving behind the time in which planetary change is just the unintended consequence of unbridled industrialism. A world designed by engineers and technicians means the birth of the planet's first Synthetic Age. Preston describes a range of technologies that will reconfigure Earth's very metabolism: nanotechnologies that can restructure natural forms of matter; “molecular manufacturing” that offers unlimited repurposing; synthetic biology's potential to build, not just read, a genome; “biological mini-machines” that can outdesign evolution; the relocation and resurrection of species; and climate engineering attempts to manage solar radiation by synthesizing a volcanic haze, cool surface temperatures by increasing the brightness of clouds, and remove carbon from the atmosphere with artificial trees that capture carbon from the breeze. What does it mean when humans shift from being caretakers of the Earth to being shapers of it? And in whom should we trust to decide the contours of our synthetic future? These questions are too important to be left to the engineers.

Author : Christopher J. Preston
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2019-03-19
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780262345309

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The Synthetic Age by Christopher J. Preston Pdf

Imagining a future in which humans fundamentally reshape the natural world using nanotechnology, synthetic biology, de-extinction, and climate engineering. We have all heard that there are no longer any places left on Earth untouched by humans. The significance of this goes beyond statistics documenting melting glaciers and shrinking species counts. It signals a new geological epoch. In The Synthetic Age, Christopher Preston argues that what is most startling about this coming epoch is not only how much impact humans have had but, more important, how much deliberate shaping they will start to do. Emerging technologies promise to give us the power to take over some of Nature's most basic operations. It is not just that we are exiting the Holocene and entering the Anthropocene; it is that we are leaving behind the time in which planetary change is just the unintended consequence of unbridled industrialism. A world designed by engineers and technicians means the birth of the planet's first Synthetic Age. Preston describes a range of technologies that will reconfigure Earth's very metabolism: nanotechnologies that can restructure natural forms of matter; “molecular manufacturing” that offers unlimited repurposing; synthetic biology's potential to build, not just read, a genome; “biological mini-machines” that can outdesign evolution; the relocation and resurrection of species; and climate engineering attempts to manage solar radiation by synthesizing a volcanic haze, cool surface temperatures by increasing the brightness of clouds, and remove carbon from the atmosphere with artificial trees that capture carbon from the breeze. What does it mean when humans shift from being caretakers of the Earth to being shapers of it? And in whom should we trust to decide the contours of our synthetic future? These questions are too important to be left to the engineers.

Author : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Board on Life Sciences,Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology,Committee on Strategies for Identifying and Addressing Potential Biodefense Vulnerabilities Posed by Synthetic Biology
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 189 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2019-01-05
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9780309465182

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Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,Division on Earth and Life Studies,Board on Life Sciences,Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology,Committee on Strategies for Identifying and Addressing Potential Biodefense Vulnerabilities Posed by Synthetic Biology Pdf

Scientific advances over the past several decades have accelerated the ability to engineer existing organisms and to potentially create novel ones not found in nature. Synthetic biology, which collectively refers to concepts, approaches, and tools that enable the modification or creation of biological organisms, is being pursued overwhelmingly for beneficial purposes ranging from reducing the burden of disease to improving agricultural yields to remediating pollution. Although the contributions synthetic biology can make in these and other areas hold great promise, it is also possible to imagine malicious uses that could threaten U.S. citizens and military personnel. Making informed decisions about how to address such concerns requires a realistic assessment of the capabilities that could be misused. Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology explores and envisions potential misuses of synthetic biology. This report develops a framework to guide an assessment of the security concerns related to advances in synthetic biology, assesses the levels of concern warranted for such advances, and identifies options that could help mitigate those concerns.

Author : George M Church,Edward Regis
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2014-04-08
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780465038657

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Regenesis by George M Church,Edward Regis Pdf

A Harvard biologist and master inventor explores how new biotechnologies will enable us to bring species back from the dead, unlock vast supplies of renewable energy, and extend human life. In Regenesis, George Church and science writer Ed Regis explore the possibilities of the emerging field of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology, in which living organisms are selectively altered by modifying substantial portions of their genomes, allows for the creation of entirely new species of organisms. These technologies-far from the out-of-control nightmare depicted in science fiction-have the power to improve human and animal health, increase our intelligence, enhance our memory, and even extend our life span. A breathtaking look at the potential of this world-changing technology, Regenesis is nothing less than a guide to the future of life.

Author : Edward Regis
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780195383416

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What is Life? by Edward Regis Pdf

This book provides an introduction to the work of the scientists who were attempting literally to create life from scratch, starting with molecular components that they hope to assemble into the world's first synthetic living cell. The book also examines how scientists have unlocked the "three secrets of life," describes the key role played by ATP ("the ultimate driving force of all life"), and outlines the many attempts to explain how life first arose on earth, a puzzle that has given birth to a wide range of theories.

Author : Sophia Roosth
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2017-03
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780226440460

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Synthetic by Sophia Roosth Pdf

In the final years of the twentieth century, emigres from mechanical and electrical engineering and computer science resolved that if the aim of biology was to understand life, then making life would yield better theories than experimentation. Sophia Roosth, a cultural anthropologist, takes us into the world of these self-named synthetic biologists who, she shows, advocate not experiment but manufacture, not reduction but construction, not analysis but synthesis. Roosth reveals how synthetic biologists make new living things in order to understand better how life works. What we see through her careful questioning is that the biological features, theories, and limits they fasten upon are determined circularly by their own experimental tactics. This is a story of broad interest, because the active, interested making of the synthetic biologists is endemic to the sciences of our time."

Author : Amy Webb,Andrew Hessel
Publisher : Public Affairs
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2023-10-10
Category : Science
ISBN : 1541797922

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The Genesis Machine by Amy Webb,Andrew Hessel Pdf

A breakthrough investigation of synthetic biology: the promising and controversial technology platform that combines biology and artificial intelligence and has the potential to program biological systems like we program computers. Synthetic biology is the technique that enables us not just to read and edit but also write DNA to program living biological structures as though they were tiny computers. Unlike cloning Dolly the sheep-which cut and copied existing genetic material-the future of synthetic biology might be something like an app store, where you could download and add new capabilities into any cell, microbe, plant, or animal. This breakthrough science has the potential to mitigate, perhaps solve, humanity's immediate and longer-term existential challenges: climate change; the feeding, clothing, housing, and caring for billions of humans; fighting the next viral outbreak before it becomes a global pandemic; old age as a treatable pathology; bringing back extinct animals. It could also be anarchic and socially destructive. With our governing structures created in an era before startling advances in technology, we are not prepared for a future in which life could be manipulated or programmed. As futurist Amy Webb and synthetic biologist Andrew Hessel show in this book, within the next decade, we will need to make important decisions: whether to program novel viruses to fight diseases, what genetic privacy will look like, who will "own" living organisms, how companies should earn revenue from engineered cells, and how to contain a synthetic organism in a lab. The Genesis Machine​ provides the background for us to understand and grapple with these issues, and think through the religious, philosophical, and ethical implications for the future.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 428 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 1984
Category : Geology
ISBN : UCSB:31205011851217

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U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin by Anonim Pdf

Author : Henry W. Roehler,Hugh McLean,Lawrence R. Bernstein,Robert L. Earhart,B. P. Hausback,J. H. Knapp
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 476 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1987
Category : Coal
ISBN : OSU:32435022085849

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Studies in Diagenesis by Henry W. Roehler,Hugh McLean,Lawrence R. Bernstein,Robert L. Earhart,B. P. Hausback,J. H. Knapp Pdf

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 558 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 1986
Category : Geology
ISBN : MINN:31951000963661R

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Geological Survey Bulletin by Anonim Pdf

Author : James Lovelock
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 155 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2020-11-10
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780262539517

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Novacene by James Lovelock Pdf

A fascinating new study from the originator of the Gaia Theory, “who conceived the first wholly new way of looking at life on earth since Charles Darwin” (Independent) One of the world’s leading scientific thinkers offers a vision of a future epoch in which humans and artificial intelligence unite to save the Earth. James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis and the greatest environmental thinker of our time, has produced an astounding new theory about future of life on Earth. He argues that the Anthropocene—the age in which humans acquired planetary-scale technologies—is, after 300 years, coming to an end. A new age—the Novacene—has already begun. In the Novacene, new beings will emerge from existing artificial intelligence systems. They will think 10,000 times faster than we do and they will regard us as we now regard plants. But this will not be the cruel, violent machine takeover of the planet imagined by science fiction. These hyperintelligent beings will be as dependent on the health of the planet as we are. They will need the planetary cooling system of Gaia to defend them from the increasing heat of the sun as much as we do. And Gaia depends on organic life. We will be partners in this project. It is crucial, Lovelock argues, that the intelligence of Earth survives and prospers. He does not think there are intelligent aliens, so we are the only beings capable of understanding the cosmos. Perhaps, he speculates, the Novacene could even be the beginning of a process that will finally lead to intelligence suffusing the entire cosmos. At the age of 100, James Lovelock has produced the most important and compelling work of his life.

Author : Case Adams
Publisher : Logical Books
Page : 245 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2024-01-29
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781936251056

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Pure Water by Case Adams Pdf

Water is our most essential element. Every day we drink it, bathe in it, cook with it and wash with it. What do we know about our water? Where does it come from? Is it clean? Is it healthy? Perhaps it is polluted or toxic. Perhaps what comes out of our faucet is making us sick. Perhaps we are slowly poisoning our bodies. Or perhaps not, depending upon our water source and treatment method. "Pure Water" engages all of these questions and more. Here the latest scientific discoveries about water and its many magical and healing properties are unveiled. Here the latest research on water pollutants and contamination sources are exposed. Here we discover our options for home filtration, the truth about bottled water, and the facts on water treatment. From "Pure Water" we gain clarity regarding the epidemic of dehydration, and discover how to use water to heal and feel better every day.

Author : R. van Furth
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 677 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2013-04-17
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9789401580700

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Mononuclear Phagocytes by R. van Furth Pdf

Mononuclear phagocytes, which include macrophages, monocytes and their precursor cells, are the most important cells in the host defence against micro-organisms and tumor cells. During the last twenty-five years research on the biology of mononuclear phagocytes has increased tremendously. This motivated Professor R. van Furth to organize five international conferences on this subject in Leiden, the Netherlands. The edited proceedings of these meethings were published: in 1970 Mononuclear Phagocytes; in 1975 Mononuclear Phagocytes in Immunity, Infections and Pathology; in 1980 Mononuclear Phagocytes -- Functional Aspects; and in 1985 Mononuclear Phagocytes -- Characteristics, Physiology and Function. Reviews of these volumes, published in international journals, praised them as the most up-to-date state of the art publications. The publication of 1991 includes 88 chapters written by more than 200 authors.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 600 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 1889
Category : Medicine
ISBN : UOM:39015062238814

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The Chicago Medical Times by Anonim Pdf