The Great Debate

Genesis Machines: Engineering Life
7pm, Wednesday 6th December 2006

Institute for Research on Environment and Sustainability
Devonshire Building
Newcastle University
Location Map

Chair Caspar Hewett

What does it mean to reprogram the logic of life?
What are the implications of engineering nature's circuits?

Genesis Machines: The New Science of Biocomputation The stuff of science fiction is now with us. In 1994, after forty years of promises, scientists announced the coming of the world's first molecular computer. Since then millions have been invested in molecular computing and synthetic biology research. DNA, the code of life, now sits at the heart of experimental computers in labs around the world. Hybrid machines integrate living cells with silicon nanotubes and preparations are being made to create entirely new organisms, never seen before.

How can humanity benefit from this revolutionary new technology? What are the dangers? What are the ethical implications? Could building living computers put us at risk from our own creations?

Speakers:
Martyn Amos, author Genesis Machines
Professor John Burn, Institute of Human Genetics

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© C J M Hewett, 2006