“Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.” – Morpheus
It’s fun sometimes to think about what the future will be like. For instance in The Matrix, a futuristic movie by Larry and Andy Wachowski, machines and computers have taken over the world and grow humans to harvest their electrical energy. That is a pretty far fetched scenario, but what if we turned the tables a little? What if humans grew computers and machines? Impossible you say?
Well Drew Endy Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of the Biological Engineering Division at MIT, would have to say nay, nay. He asserts that while we may be in the very infant stages of this type of technology, the groundwork for manufacturing with biology is real and viable! “Welcome to the real world.”
I came across this very intriguing story by Quinn Norton over at O’Reilly Radar. It is a five part series and I highly suggest you take the time to read over them all… well, if you are into to science, technology and that kind of thing.
Everything you needed to know about human-created life forms but were afraid to ask
The dummy’s guide to engineering genes
Play God for fun and profit (mostly fun)
Managing the unmanagable future
Synthetic Biology: The conclusion of the very beginning