The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology
By Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel
Read by Tim Campbell, Amanda Dolan, and Landon Woodson, with introduction read by the authors
Unabridged
-
2 Formats: CD
-
2 Formats: Library CD
-
ISBN: 9781668607862
-
ISBN: 9781668607848
| Runtime: | 10.11 Hours |
| Category: | Nonfiction/Science |
| Audience: | Adult |
| Language: | English |
Summary
Summary
A New Yorker Best Book of the YearA 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.
The breakthrough science of synthetic biology has the potential to help solve humanity’s existential challenges from climate change, to the health and feeding of millions, to fighting the next viral outbreak before it becomes a global pandemic.
A promising and controversial science that combines biology and artificial intelligence, synthetic biology opens up the possibility of programming biological systems much as we program computers. Rather than life being “a beautiful game of chance,” synthetic biology can give us control over our genetic destiny, say no to bad genes, and add new capabilities into any cell, microbe, plant, or animal—enabling us not just to read and edit DNA, but write it. And herein lies the controversy.
Whether we approve or disapprove, synthetic biology is coming. Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel give us the understanding we need to assess both the promise and peril of the science as well as the complex ethical, moral, political, and societal issues surrounding it.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Author
Author Bio: Amy Webb
Amy Webb is the founder of the Future Today Institute, a leading foresight and strategy firm. She is a professor of strategic foresight at New York University’s Stern School of Business and a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University’s Säid School of Business. She was elected a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, and serves as a Steward and Steering Committee member of the World Economic Forum. Webb was named by Forbes as “one of the five women changing the world” and was honored as one of the BBC’s 100 Women of 2020. She is the author of The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity and The Signals are Talking: Why Today's Fringe is Tomorrow's Mainstream. She resides in Baltimore, MD.
Titles by Author
Author Bio: Andrew Hessel
Andrew Hessel, a pioneer and an expert in the field of synthetic biology, is the president of Humane Genomics, an early-stage company developing synthetic viruses for canine and human oncology. He is also the co-founder and chairman of the Center of Excellence for Engineering Biology and the Genome Project, the international scientific effort to engineer large genomes, including the human genome. He is a former distinguished research scientist at Autodesk Life Sciences.
Titles by Author
Details
Details
| Available Formats : | CD, Library CD |
| Category: | Nonfiction/Science |
| Runtime: | 10.11 |
| Audience: | Adult |
| Language: | English |
To listen to this title you will need our latest app
Due to publishing rights this title requires DRM and can only be listened to in the Blackstone Library app