An Introduction to Synthetic Biology with Andrew Hessel | Singularity University

[@robertoespinoza9836]

whoa, I almost always skip the Q&A section because people usually make smug speeches instead of actual questions, but this time the questions were very to the point and interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[@MatthewBendyna]

Ray Kurzweil's law of accelerating return is a rather accurate model, and after doing a bit of looking into his prediction method, there is logic to it. It's been accurate to a rather impressive degree so far as well.

[@retoblubber]

Question at 47:01 _Will we be able to bring back dinosaurs?_ There is an interesting, well presented TEDx lecture on *De-Extinction* by Carl Zimmer: (Some) EXTINCTION IS (not necessarily) FOREVER: Carl Zimmer at TEDxDeExtinction The short answer is that dinosaurs can not be brought back. Any 65+million year old DNA - even perfectly conserved in amber - is just too fragmented. It 'only' seems possible to stitch together the fragments of animals that went extinct more recently, like mammoths or sabertooth tigers. That doesn't mean a _Jurassic Park_ will never open its doors. However, the animals in such a park won't be replicas of the dinosaurs that walked once on earth, but merely re-designed concepts of dinosaur-like creatures, based on the fossil record, bird DNA and (probably) our imagination.

[@mkgamesartvisuals]

Really like this guy! Awesome presentation!

[@unzoshokan]

Great speech, the impact on energy and health will be great if we get to live in real and fair democracy.

[@midare]

Thank you for uploading this. Wonderful lecture. I am looking forward to future uploads from the University.

[@caseorganic]

I am very pleased with this. Thank you for speaking.

[@JRMyzZz]

LOL the "wtf?" cracked me up! Who's the person who edited this?

[@Juvencio7]

Why i can only see 8 minutes? There's another site with the video?

[@pingutastic]

Is the vital difference between synthetic biology and conventional biotechnology or genetic engineering down to the approach? idea of standardised genetic components and of course addition of new technology such as DNA synthesiser. I'm slightly confused on this matter...because say e.coli producing insulin is generally regarded as a product of genetic engineering but yeast producing diesel is a synthetic biology invention....I will be grateful if anyone can answer my question. Thanks

[@DanDascalescu-dandv]

Is there a transcript of this video somewhere?

[@raedtabani2172]

I still haven't watched the video yet, but I think the basic difference between the two is that Biotech is limited to copying and pasting genes and enzymes that are available in nature whereas in synthetic biology you get to create and engineer new enzyme and metabolic pathways.

[@bigfoot799]

awesome lecture. keep them coming.

[@stijill]

just a question. Are we interfering natural selection or is this as a whole a part of nature?

[@Xgjigzigzyixiy]

I would say this should be included under the umbrella of natural selection, we are naturally selected organisms that have learned to tinker and modify selection , so my opinion is we are not interfering in a universal sense

[@stijill]

ya

[@stijill]

I believe what ever we do to to this earth it will destroy us before we destroy it. So with that said, our goal is to look out for our selves buy maintaining our little rocky blue chunk.

[@Xgjigzigzyixiy]

i'm talking naturally selected up to the point of homo sapiens status you fucking idiot

[@stijill]

***** Your an ANONYMOUS IDIOT? I'm Asian and I'm not afraid to post my real name. Where the hell did you get your facts from? Stop reading information off the web without checking sources. REALLY??? "returning to its original state before the cataclysm 10k years ago"

[@silphidae1]

Tobias from Arrested Development?

[@YoSomePerson]

Wheres the rest :-/ ?

[@MumblingMickey]

As someone thinking of taking a course in bioinformatics and having read a bit of biology I realised pretty quickly there was indeed something unscientific and 'creepy' in this vid. After a little digging it seems to be more from the mind of Ray Kurzweil et al. Singularity university & their technologist luvin ideology. However it is interesting to note the garage tinkering of the biobricks fraternity and smells a bit like the calm before the storm of the computer revolution in the 80's.

[@MumblingMickey]

Yeah I read two of his books and his 'how my predictions are faring'...and indeed his LOAR is accurate... but only insofar as it calculates IF something will be possible based on future technology. It says nothing about how it would be interpreted and fielded by society. Which is a much more complex question. For example he could have predicted in 1990 the demise of democracy and outright rule by the population using social media [or something like it], thats possible right now.

[@MumblingMickey]

Essentially I'm not knocking Kurzweil (although I do think he's a little flakey and on the fringe. Since his calculations are simple and well known its possible to predict things that 'can' come about in the future. But its not possible given the incredibly complex interactions, products, fads and human activities what that will look like except in generic terms. For example right now we know we can add 30% to the human lifespan, yet nobody seems to be bothered to implement it!

[@ControltheDistance]

Yes you are.

[@envoking]

Picking the lock on Pandora's box.

[@shinobi6622]

I would've watched it if it wasn't for the weird sound quality. I kept feeling like my ear drums popped back and forth.

[@TBrewer64]

This is great stuff! I have been looking for a research position in this area and this talk is a great explanation for people who are unfamiliar with synthetic biology. Check out Terrence Brann on linkedin.

[@BitcoinIsGoingToZero]

this guy is Daniel Tosh's intelligent twin brother.

[@mkultra1982]

There's an upcoming new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in which the DNA of the lead detective is replicated in a laboratory and planted at the scene of a crime to frame her!

[@buckamoona]

steve jobs?

[@Xgjigzigzyixiy]

this is mad boring - but I'll plow through the whole lecture.

[@MumblingMickey]

?? huh?

[@PianoSonata]

It's possible, now. Beware! Haha

[@om4444]

This guy downplays the possibility of nefarious usage of this....that is his crime.

[@LeDuckDuckGoose]

omg. starcraft...maybe the human race made the protoss race and zerg race but lost control....

[@rock5719633]

too long

[@xinzhang2244]

Tosh.0 of biological sciences

[@trekheck]

Funny -- a "pioneer in synthetic biology" ... I have been involved in the field since 6 years and never even heard of the guy. Sleek, sensationalist, superficial.