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Asana, a smarter way to work. Learn more at Assana.com. Hi I'm Z Mizar and this is another special episode of the exponential view

podcast yes it's summer and the team is preparing for the next season of the podcast, but we didn't want to leave you several weeks without any great conversations.

So we've got another summer special for you,

and this was recorded at the world's largest AI Festival,

CogX, it took place in June in London.

We hosted a lot of world experts to discuss the future of hardware and complexity theory and

genomics, the circular economy, theory of the firm and so much more. In case you missed it you can find all of my sessions on YouTube

just go there and search for cutting edge stage cog X that is cutting edge stage

cog X coag X

in our special episode today I want to share a discussion on synthetic biology

this was led by Karina Nami and investor episode one and she previously founded a CRISPR company called

Helix Nano. Karina is in conversation with James Field, the founder and CEO of

Lab Genius, a London-based startup that's using AI to develop biological proteins.

Oliver Morton is the briefings editor at the economist and the author of

Eating the Sun, How Plants Power the Planet, and a new book about about the moon and Giggi Levi Weiss a serial entrepreneur and a partner

NFX Capital. It's a fantastic conversation and I hope you enjoy it.

I'd like to start by asking each of you about a contrarian view that you hold about this space. A contrarian view about where you think this field is going, the future of life, the future of biology.

Thinking of a contrarian view that I hope everyone won't agree on. I guess what about

engineering? I think of engineering I think about watching my daughter kind of build blocks towers and when you look at how the species is try to engineer life it's in effectively the same way we try to reduce life, it's ineffectively the same way.

We try to reduce the complexity of biology down to something simple

...