4/4: Shaping Homo Sapiens DNA for Migration to Mars and beyond: 4/4: The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds by Christopher E. Mason
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 9 January 2023
⏱️ 11 minutes
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4/4: Shaping Homo Sapiens DNA for Migration to Mars and beyond: 4/4: The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds by Christopher E. Mason
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086SCVGS5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Inevitably, life on Earth will come to an end, whether by climate disaster, or by cataclysmic war, or when the sun runs out of fuel in a few billion years. To avoid extinction, will we have to find a new home planet, perhaps even a new solar system, to inhabit? In this provocative and fascinating book, Christopher Mason argues that we have a moral duty to do just that. Because we are the only species aware that life on Earth has an expiration date, we have a responsibility to act as the shepherd of lifeforms--not only for our species but for all species on which we depend and for those still to come (by accidental or designed evolution). Mason argues that the same capacity for ingenuity that has enabled us to build rockets and land on other planets can be applied to redesigning biology so that we can sustainably inhabit those planets. And he lays out a 500-year plan for undertaking the massively ambitious project of reengineering human genetics for life in other worlds
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Maldives, where you can relax on white sand beaches, |
| 0:04.8 | under gently swaying coconut trees, |
| 0:08.0 | and dive into crystal clear waters to swim with the local wildlife. |
| 0:12.8 | Or... |
| 0:14.0 | You can dive into the beach parties, |
| 0:16.4 | bonfires and cocktails of the local nightlife. |
| 0:20.0 | Virgin Atlantic will be flying to the Maldives from October 2023, |
| 0:25.0 | but how you see it is up to you. |
| 0:27.3 | Book now with Virgin Atlantic holidays. |
| 0:33.3 | This is CBSI in the world. |
| 0:35.3 | I'm John Bachelorette, Dr. Christopher Mason, |
| 0:37.3 | a geneticist, computational biologist. |
| 0:39.3 | He's a professor at the Wild Cornel Medicine School. |
| 0:42.3 | However, the author of the next 500 years, |
| 0:45.3 | in the 23rd century, |
| 0:47.3 | we have engineered life. |
| 0:49.3 | There's homo sapiens and his or her allies, |
| 0:54.3 | friends, companions, including AI. |
| 0:57.3 | We're on a generational ship, |
| 0:59.3 | and we're headed to another sun. |
| 1:01.3 | There are challenges. We're not going to engineer this. |
| 1:04.3 | We're on going to talk about some aspects of Chris' presentation |
... |
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