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Guest Thinkers — August 19, 2011

Evolution made Self-Aware

Parag and Ayesha Khanna

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BY JASON SILVA

Physicist Freeman Dyson has spoken of a new “Age of Wonder” centered on computers and biology. He has artfully articulated that in the near future “a new generation of artists will be writing genomes with the fluency that Blake and Byron wrote verses.”

What I find the most astonishing about this statement is the implication that biology itself is now seen as a canvas subject to aesthetic design- it implies that mankind will apply the intentions of his mind to influence the unfolding of biological processes. Think about this for a second. Evolution itself has just evolved and become self-aware.

The following video offers my take on stem-cell research, which I believe is a hugely important step towards mastering the information processes of our biology:

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Jason Silva is a Fellow of the Hybrid Reality Institute.

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