We can reprogram life. How to do it wisely | Juan Enriquez

For four billion years, what lived and died on Earth depended on two principles: natural selection and random mutation. Then humans came along and changed everything - hybridizing plants, breeding animals, altering the environment and even purposefully evolving ourselves. Juan Enriquez provides five guidelines for a future where this ability to program life rapidly accelerates. "This is the single most exciting adventure human beings have been on," Enriquez says. "This is the single greatest superpower humans have ever had."
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[@angelic8632002]

And Enriquez delivers once more. Of all the speakers of TED over the years he has to be among the top of them. Much respect

[@bdafeesh]

I really enjoy how he talks. It's calm and collected, yet engaging and interesting. I don't think I ever heard a simple 'um' either..

[@eddy2dend]

he's not elon musk

[@kevmankom]

This is such an important speech. We have a way now to change our destiny. I took Humira when I was in high school for ankylosing spondylitis and it is in remission now. My life was changed completely because humans have the ability to affect life code. Everyone should be aware of this new found ability and they should be aware of its ups and downs. I absolutely agree that we should leave part of the earth to random selection. There should be a balance between random and guided mutation. This issue will probably define the future of humanity for thousands of years if not indefinitely. We are in the Anthropocene now and with great power comes great responsibility.

[@browngom]

i want this guy to be my professor. why cant all teachers be more like him.

[@asdfghjkl900321]

+browngom Because diversity is a good thing?

[@manuelpcsfoliveira5522]

+Páncélos Cowboy it`s true. but also natural selection is a good thing!

[@LONE_WOLF_GANG]

Best TED talks EVER!!! I can honestly say I learned something today, thank you!!

[@AnstonMusic]

Best one this year I'd say.

[@adrienperie6119]

That's pretty sad really

[@AnstonMusic]

There have been other good ones though. This area strikes close to home with me. Gotta agree there have been a lot of hideous ones.

[@Vessev]

+Adrien Perié - If this is sad, then what is a superior video?

[@mixtermuxter8602]

+Anston [Music] agreed

[@AnstonMusic]

Vessev No, he's saying that it's sad that there haven't been many good ones this year.

[@UMGMentor]

I enjoyed this TED presentation.

[@cannotchooseaname]

Amazing speech and a well thought out arc!

[@JovannyARodriguez]

*LOVE listening to a smart man* [a humble, genuine, down to earth smart man].

[@-yttrium-1187]

"If you let a chihuahua loose on the african plain, you can watch natural selection happen."

[@doodelay]

Lmfao

[@cavv0667]

Thank You... Beautiful!!! Well spoken and simple for anyone to understand.

[@prison9603]

*You can reprogram your mind and as a result you will reprogram your life also*. Instead of seeing life through the mental prison with all its mental intrusions you will see life clearly, you will see the ( present) *You will think less, but know a lot more, because you will experience a lot more, and what you experience will be real ( present), not a deception or illusion of the mind prison*. Reprogram life is changing your own reality and that is possible, you will only need the just unveiled *ultimate Truth of Life*. This *truth* explains the big picture of life in every facet, including the real *Truth about the nature of the mind* and the way to overcome the mental priosn permantly. Google *TruthContest click on the earth icon and read the Present*

[@bandthebeast2230]

nice read although I don't agree with everything

[@theslimeylimey]

Very very good talk. Thanks Ted and thank you Juan Enriquez! This makes up for quite a few of those er, I'll just call them "other" talks.

[@MyFrenchfries]

Great Talk! I could listen for hours!

[@blkzenki]

what is wrong with people?why would someone thumbs down this talk?

[@ahobby]

+blkzenki #3

[@yeetstones6288]

its boring

[@bobajef6780]

LOVED this speech and the topic was very important

[@bens6225]

Juan, your talks are the best.

[@yw1653]

Amazing speech!

[@heetendragowin305]

Excellent TED talk !!

[@goldmeteora5617]

fantastic talk

[@willofone2120]

i agree with this. there is strength in diversity. and use tools that can save lives

[@nemomoto3894]

Irony of presenters perspective on 'plastic' with films take, but it is definitely for the betterment of people so long as comprehensive ethics are used and the techniques are kept from big pharma under govt. just like any good science experiment. A well delivered Ted talk

[@FincheLaVaccaVa]

I liked that he put diversity up high in the list. I wonder if the first point on the list would lead to more transparent information about how the food we eat has been changed.

[@honduras1231000]

Brilliant !!!

[@GeorgRockallSchmidt]

A really decent presentation. TED at its best.

[@nathantonning]

Wow, great presentation!

[@romanamore9442]

I wonder how such an awesome presentation was created.

[@fransamson]

People need to open their minds...

[@rz9297]

+Francisco Samsón many are genetically wired to be stupid. that's precisely why we need this sort of thing in the first place

[@kreaturen]

+Roobz Z Well, if we're going to experiment on stupid people first, at least take care not to make them smarter than us in the process :P

[@rz9297]

kreaturen yep, bad habits die hard after all.

[@vaughnutube327]

When the old guy said "plastic" ... he was talking about credit cards ;-). And so now when you look back you'll notice these folks (actually corporation/banks now) who have monopolized on "plastic' have been receiving a return of about 30% a year ( 21% a year from me ? ;-)... and yeah 'plastic' was the right word. If you do the math (or just try to count to one billion at a rate of say $100 a second ... you'll notice how we'll never catch up to those 'plastic' folks. "Oceans of money" is probably what that old guy would have said next ;-). Now the interesting thing about money is that it changes ordinary reasonable good to do folks into a wavelength of 'entitlement' ( I don't what to call it - not a phycologists ;-). It takes a few years but it happens - always has and always will. These Guys/Gals ( offspring ) are in charge of our world now and predictably they're after more power (and more life if it's remotely possible ) ... Maybe the new words should be " hold on ". I mean you can't challenge money with money and moral natural selection is no longer feasible ( used to be able to overthrow a bad king ... try and take out an irresponsible billionaire today ;-). You are absolutely right " like it our not, we're all in for quite the ride ". Thanks you for the talk.

[@lakshmanankomathmanalath]

great!!!

[@nibinkarayi]

This is great stuff!!!

[@JuanPablodelaTorre]

Brilliant

[@MeleDrummer]

Very cool! Great speaker.

[@hamzatahir8074]

loved it

[@vbay7163]

Best Talk (y)

[@MichaelSHartman]

Thank you for the interesting video. If one wants to know what will be done, who will do the most damage without regards for others, who will act irresponsibly, who will not take responsibility or be most affected by the acts, who will not share information for the benefit of all and make extreme efforts to prevent the sharing of information and resources then follow the money.

[@kevinroberts1052]

Ted Talks are so Profound. :-)

[@nitrogenoah9o485]

That is wise

[@sadaysaday1629]

شكرا على الترجمة استمرو رجاء

[@FGDDD7]

I'm an offence salesman and I took a tupperware to this

[@kreaturen]

+Stephen Scanlon I'm in great need of offense right now... May I have a look at your selection?

[@Wyzzkyd]

5:49 This guy, he understands.

[@williamaguilar9389]

Once you have watched this video you may now graduate to watching Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex

[@flok3rous]

Can someone tell which software he has used to create his slides? Or is it just PP + original style?

[@davidbrycke2279]

Hi, can we set up two language at the same time on the screen ?how we can set it up on the mobile phones there is an app named TED me that we can play two language. But i want to have the app on my mac screen . thank you so much

[@jamesdouthit3791]

I would like him to elaborate on why we need to keep natural evolution.

[@Efonias]

+James Douthit Overspecialization and a lack of knowledge could foreseeably lead to the demise of lifeforms, possibly us. It's nice to have a backup plan, y'know?

[@ireallyhatemakingupnamesfo1758]

Life of Theseus

[@AravindanUmashankar]

Giant Think !

[@adrienperie6119]

Principle no 4 is a very good idea that collides hard with capitalism, like a lot of very important ideas.

[@xXbudred123Xx]

I think calling these things unnatural is ignoring the fact that we humans are part of nature, therefor the engineered things we produce are also natural. They are still random mutations in the bigger picture, since we are random ourselves.

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

+budred123 - Bernie Sanders FTW - I don't feel very random.

[@xXbudred123Xx]

TheAnnoyingGunner Well you are, if just a few random events didn't occur you wouldn't exist.

[@dmalysiak]

I'm curious if coding life will ever go the way of programming software.. as in open source projects, democratization of the learning environment with free tutorials and workshops, etc.. The concept of accelerated "intelligent design" is exciting, but in the context of humans, I mainly worry about the accessibility of the technology for ordinary people who may not be privileged enough to afford the likely high cost of life enhancing genetic modifications. The poor would likely go the way of neanderthals in the long run if only the rich had access to genetic modifications.

[@ludopoot]

what's that font?

[@MrSaint3]

13:50 a quaint dream but one cannot prevent the spread of genetically modified organisms. We have already learned this with Monsanto and RoundUp. Some propose we male it impossible for the new organism to reproduce on its own, or otherwise be limited in that manner. We already failed at this step. It is easy to see the proliferation of designed organisms across 100% of planet Earth.

[@shway1]

once its out in the wild its being naturally selected for

[@Appletank8]

+Patternicity Thing is, some places don't have natural predators, and out compete. Aka Cane toads and rabbits of Australia. Sure, it's being "selected" to survive, but we are basically killing an entire ecosystem while waiting for the food chain to stabilize.

[@omarelmasri6709]

i love how this shows the positives of genetically modified food considering it gets so much negatives from monsanto

[@MrChinmay0123]

Hmm. Can someone make a Human Development board and someone make a SDK for it?

[@Efonias]

Reminds me of World of Tomorrow.

[@muffinz4724]

R.I.P Natural selection

[@rpuig3974]

Juan Enriquez is comparing breeding humans to breeding flowers . What a dangerus mind! This guy is another clear example of a scientist without ethics!

[@paullemus3630]

Wow, it seems like everyone is FIRST! today.

[@maxme009]

I was here

[@Ilcohere]

Can please someone tell me what's the message of this talk?

[@MuadDib1402]

+Gregory Moshkevich With great power comes great responsibility.

[@Ilcohere]

+My ex-wife thnx

[@RogerTankorzero]

When a man is joking but has teary eyes... you know he's a badass ^_~

[@derBene]

Yeah, it's probably impossible to ignore genetic engineering. But to me it sounds like riding to work on a rocket, meaning humanity can't handle it. So there I am already in the ethics field. He was right.

[@ellieaquitrain]

I swear I saw Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London) in the audience

[@tegatobu8577]

Idk about this. We're basically creating what we want.

[@Appletank8]

+Xäp 8 We already create what we want. Cities, farms, dogs, domesticated cats, domesticated foxes (yes, it's a thing in russia apparently), broccoli, bananas, apples, Concrete, cheese, graftings, human assisted pollination, breeding etc. Crispr and other related technologies turn the sledgehammer we've been using for the past 10000 years into a scalpel.

[@tegatobu8577]

+Appletank8 the question really is are we responsible enough for this next stage? Cause it's going to happen anyways, will we be wise with the power

[@Appletank8]

+Xäp 8 Who knows? We have all this tech surrounding us, but so far, we seem to be fairly responsible. One can only hope the world as a whole won't start going Resident Evil on us.

[@tegatobu8577]

+Appletank8 yea it'll be interesting growing up in this stage of life. We're truly blessed

[@raunaklanjewar677]

Even if we want to let natural selection work parallel to controlled evolution there will be a time when every organism will controlled.

[@AbuHajarAlBugatti]

WHAT ABOUT LEAVING NATURE ALONE

[@Horesmi]

LOL NOPE.

[@jonathancouch4603]

How about no.

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

+zombieking2171 This would surely reduce crime...

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

OsamaBinObama Gassing the first two commentors to this OP? Seems "a bit" radical.

[@tijan8948]

The questionable ethics of the last 2000 years means we should not just think of this science as a continuum.

[@jonathanmachjacksontrad5704]

8:10

[@LeonidasGGG]

Why did it look like he was about to cry?

[@20twelvevolution]

Bet this guy works for Monsanto

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

Just like 90% of biologists and biochemists that are out there. Monsanto has enough money to pay them all.

[@gal416]

Go reprogram (👊👈) yourselves and leave us normal ones alone, TY.

[@Adures]

Haaaaaa, finally after all this years it is my turn to say: FIRST!!!!!!!!!! Now i can die happily.

[@waheedkhan1325]

Lol get a life

[@cloudyutopia5215]

lol 240

[@tijan8948]

Scary

[@wulf8121]

I would go even further and say that a 1/3 of the world should be protected wildlife, maybe even 1/2. Plenty of space out there to colonize.

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

+Rich Hart 1/2 of the land surface is already used for agriculture.

[@wulf8121]

TheAnnoyingGunner you're underestimating what future farming will be capable of. If we're really good at automating hydroponic vertical farming in cities and can increase crop yields with bio engineering, urban areas might be able to produce their own food while needing much less of the earth's surface to do it

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

Rich Hart I meant the status quo. If you use aeroponics with artificial lighting 1:1 effective power at 430nm/670nm, then you need about twofold the area you are effectively growing (average over the year) to gather the needed energy with good photovoltaic panels to recreate similar absorbed light levels. How useful this is depends on your crop, if you grow the bog-standard hydroponics vegetable lettuce, then you should be able to reduce the needed land surface to approx. 1/6th.

[@EdgarasNeverdauskas]

Change speed to 1.25. You will thank me later!

[@AnstonMusic]

+Edgaras Neverdauskas Naah, there is so much gravitas to every single sentence that you better really process and remember it. Taking this into account the pace is exactly correct.

[@Void-ep3zg]

+Edgaras Neverdauskas Yes great Idea, works fine.

[@Void-ep3zg]

+Anston [Music] Most people that are better in English are able to remember it with this speed!

[@calimerohnir3311]

+Edgaras Neverdauskas : I use video speed controller: it let you change speed up to 4.0. it's amazing.

[@AnstonMusic]

Sn7w There is always a trade-off.

[@stevenwoods777]

As in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of HIS return.

[@blowinsmoke5938]

Who's return? I assume you mean your god. Can you pick him from the list for me please? There's over 5,000 gods out there but I'm sure you have the correct one!

[@KenanVideos]

This

[@yudy92]

It's not Darwin's system, it's Nature's system observed by Darwin. We don't want to attach a human to a natural way.

[@-yttrium-1187]

"some of us have have a bit of neanderthal in us... and alot more in washington."

[@rajendrankok]

nature always know what to live and what not to live. interference may lead to bad consequences. but doing it a right is also good. those who support GM crops say without GM crops we can not feed population. irony is we have more production but more people are malnourished. simply companies are making money by injecting fear in our mind. lot of cancer cases have been reported.i can see use of pesticides,fertilizer being used to make food. finally some say its greatest human invention. my view is earth and life forms have been there before human species ever walked. before that also there was plants, insects attacking those plants and some way plants were protecting themselves. nature knows what to do. motors and hydrocarbon are great invention. but we overexploited and now have more GHGs than Normal. we destroy more than we really create.

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

+Rajendran P To be able to create more than you destroy would go against our basic understanding of the universe we live in.

[@rajendrankok]

+TheAnnoyingGunner that's what my understanding is. we are destroying more nature rather than letting it create more. say Forest, we destroyed and destroying more...and not letting nature create more...

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

Rajendran P We hadn't become the dominant life form on this planet if we didn't use the easily accessible resource deposits that were built up over thousands of years. But those deposits now come to an end. We never had to think much about efficiency or recycling in the past.

[@rajendrankok]

+TheAnnoyingGunner we hadn't and never will be dominant life form. one thing we all forgot is we,the humans are part and parcel of nature like any other form,only with different level of senses and intelligence. if we constantly remind that we are part of it,we will use and try to minimize the negative impact we make. we need oxygen to live,comes from nature,basically trees. food again from nature.water the same. we are and will always be dependent on nature for our survival like any other species only with a level of intelligence and knowledge to manipulate I'm good or bad way... we can't control rain,wind,waves, tsunami or earthquake or volcanic eruptio,only we can adjust with the nature. I heard without honeybees world will come to an end in 4 years...many so called dominant species say dinosaura and dominant kingdom and Kings,Rome or Napoleon/Hitler always can't stand to cold winter or heat.

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

Rajendran P You reduce the human to his biological appearance.

[@focusonlife3242]

I enjoyed this presentation, but hand job rarely leads to baby

[@BrunoPontoTxT]

reprogram only the life that will live in mars

[@blowinsmoke5938]

+Bruno Signori Then I guess I'm moving to mars once they splice the genetic code in to me that lobsters currently have that gives them biological immortality. I'll watch the worms of earth shrivel and die a million times over from my shack on mars 100 times out of 100.

[@satoisme]

Brave New World...?

[@tijan8948]

I love how all these atheists in the comments are cheering for Intelligent Design!

[@the3dguy2]

great talk.. except that to feed 7 billion you dont need GMOs what so ever. And its a risk for sure to act unnecessarily when there are no benefits that are applicable.

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

+The Great Indian Rooftop Garden GMOs are helping. Herbicide-resistant GMOs effectively increase the amount of target-biomass produced as the plant doesn't have to compete for the sunlight. Pesticide-producing GMOs reduce the amount of biomass you loose to the eco-system, increasing your yield of the grown biomass. In the second case you can substitute the GM with the application of traditional pesticides, which is either extremely harmful to the eco-system or extremely high production effort, which automatically leads to a negative environmental impact. GMOs are less harmful to the environment than traditional agriculture. And please, no vegan bullshit, everyone except the vegans accepted the fact that you loose 4/5 of the nutritional value to grow a tasty steak. You could establish aero/hydroponics, where you don't necessarily need GMOs to keep the production high. But there is no reason to not improve our tools, which includes the organisms growing our food.

[@the3dguy2]

The point really is not whether biomass is 'lost to the ecosystem' or not.. It is about whether we can feed 7 billion, and 9 billion in near future without GMOs.. Comfortably. The main problem with food security is food distribution, not food production. Secondly, as you said, there are other 'tools' that can do the job fine, without having to resort to genetically modifying organisms. The process of using 'after the fact' selection type of hybridization that was done through the history is not at all similar to the GMO type modification. The former is fairly based on 'natural' mechanisms, where as the latter is just fiddling. Such fiddling is not necessary what so ever, particularly when the alternatives are more awesome. Also, not mentioning the horrors already occuring due to GMOs (bt brinjal, bt cotton leading to mass suicides in my country India for instance), and the reputation for most modern science to 'pull back' half the products they deem as safe with in a decade calling them unsafe again, I say, lets not rush. We all know the pseudomonas syrengii fiasco for saving 'strawberries from frost'.. There is no need. No one will die if a few strawberries are lost to frost. Calling on food security to mask the lack of necessity is not necessarily good science.

[@the3dguy2]

Now pesticides are not 'traditional agriculture'.. it is conventional agriculture. Traditional agriculture was, by definition, organic. We all know and agree upon the harmful nature of conventional pesticide laden agriculture. May be GMOs are safer than that. But there are more productive and safer still methods of food production out there, tried, tested, proven and working. Many organic farming methods are cheaper and more productive than either conventional or GMO farming methods. Gardening is a far better and cheaper and easier and healthier solution to food crisis than GMOs have any chance of being nearly as good. And the whole 'i own the patents to your seeds' syndrome is frankly unscientific and unethical at best. May be open source GMOs? May be not even that! Thank you! And yes, taking agriculture out, for medical purposes lets say, yeah Go For GMO!! May be a new GMO bacteria can kill off cancer cells.. awesome more power to us all! But please, food systems do not need a GMO savior as of now or any time in the near future.

[@smartcatcollarproject5699]

We can reprogram life ! Well, what about starting to offer a good job and some security to anyone ? Not TED's agenda obviously ?

[@mauri610]

9th

[@procrasti86]

I would like to be reprogrammed. Or have a clone. Or both

[@Appletank8]

+procrasti86 Really, clones are basically time-displaced twins.

[@procrasti86]

I have 2 sisters, I always wanted a brother

[@blockedaccount961]

second

[@schoologs9693]

:)

[@pacoo3712]

Lifecode??? More like: how can we make genetically engineered humans more presentable?

[@kreaturen]

Surely can't be true that we all descend from a single woman?! Dare I ask how many men?! Jesus... Poor woman

[@joshsam9895]

It's not Darwin's evolution it's gods what possess the inanimate to become animate, in all our knowledge we refuse to see how it's all too structured for life in an all too empty universe.

[@DjJooze]

Adderall xanax = good tools ☺🍁

[@AlexisGomez-kt2yf]

stop it now 4 more years and ya will see

[@tawhaowhao]

Scary stuff that should not be happening. Live code =separation from Oneness.

[@seanwebb605]

Sorry, but your math is wrong. Hand job rarely leads to baby.

[@steinhaynes4179]

but I thought God did everything

[@TheAnnoyingGunner]

+Stein Haynes Yes, God created the Earth 6000 years ago and the first humans lived about 900 years.

[@PFR1930]

Men playing God? No, thanks.

[@Kadulikan]

+Dr. Foda-se. PhD Ah. Because if we'd just stayed in medieval times but still became the dominant species, then we'd be in the right. Down with technology! Down with cancer research and all genetic science!

[@PFR1930]

How long until people return their kids saying "it'snot the way I ordered, I said 6-foot tall and blue eyes, I want my money back"?

[@Kadulikan]

So having a child eat oatmeal every day is an acceptable way of making them taller, but simply giving them genes that others already have to accomplish the same thing is wrong?

[@PFR1930]

+Kadulikan Exactly!