Video 4 Evolving our Bodies
Now, we can't even begin to imagine what that might look like,but we're beginning to get glimpses of instruments that might take us even that far.
And let me give you two examples. So this is the wonderful Floyd Romesberg,
and one of the things that Floyd's been doing is he's been playing with the basic chemistry of life.
So all life on this planet is made in ATCGs, the four letters of DNA.
All bacteria, all plants, all animals, all humans, all cows, everything else.
And what Floyd did is he changed out two of those base pairs, so it's ATXY.
And that means that you now have a parallel system to make life, to make babies, to reproduce, to evolve,
that doesn't mate with most things on Earth or in fact maybe with nothing on Earth.
Maybe you make plants that are immune to all bacteria. Maybe you make plants that are immune to all viruses.
But why is that so interesting? It means that we are not a unique solution.
It means you can create alternate chemistries to us that could be chemistries adaptable to a very different planet that could create life and heredity.
Quesitons
Why is changing the DNA of humans is important?
>it allows them to adapt and survive on other planets.
What is Floyd Romesberg known for?
>He developed a parallel system to make life.
we can't even begin to imagine what that might look like,but we're beginning to get glimpses of instruments that might take us even that far.
The second experiment, or the other implication of this experiment, is that all of you, all life is based on 20 amino acids.
If you don't substitute two amino acids, if you don't say ATXY, if you say ATCG + XY, then you go from 20 building blocks to 172,
and all of a sudden you've got 172 building blocks of amino acids to build life-forms in very different shapes.
The second experiment to think about is a really weird experiment that's been taking place in China.
So this guy has been transplanting hundreds of mouse heads. Right?
And why is that an interesting experiment?
Well, think of the first heart transplants.
One of the things they used to do is they used to bring in the wife or the daughter of the donor
so the donee could tell the doctors, "Do you recognize this person? Do you love this person? Do you feel anything for this person?"
We laugh about that today.
We laugh because we know the heart is a muscle, but for hundreds of thousands of years, or tens of thousands of years,
"I gave her my heart. She took my heart. She broke my heart." We thought this was emotion
and we thought maybe emotions were transplanted with the heart. Nope.
So how about the brain? Two possible outcomes to this experiment.
If you can get a mouse that is functional, then you can see, is the new brain a blank slate?
And boy, does that have implications.
Second option: the new mouse recognizes Minnie Mouse.
The new mouse remembers what it's afraid of, remembers how to navigate the maze,
and if that is true, then you can transplant memory and consciousness.
And then the really interesting question is, if you can transplant this, is the only input-output mechanism this down here?
Or could you transplant that consciousness into something that would be very different,
that would last in space, that would last tens of thousands of years, that would be a completely redesigned body that could hold consciousness for a long, long period of time?
And let's come back to the first question: why would you ever want to do that?
Well, I'll tell you why. Because this is the ultimate selfie.
This is taken from six billion miles away, and that's Earth.
And that's all of us. And if that little thing goes, all of humanity goes.
And the reason you want to alter the human body is because you eventually want a picture that says,
that's us, and that's us, and that's us, because that's the way humanity survives long-term extinction.
And that's the reason why it turns out it's actually unethical not to evolve the human body
even though it can be scary, even though it can be challenging,
but it's what's going to allow us to explore, live, and get to places we can't even dream of today,
but which our great-great-great-great- grandchildren might someday.
Thank you very much.
Questions
According to Enriquez why did people used to belive about the human heart?
>It was the source of all human emotions.
How does Enriquez conclude his presentation?
>He makes the case for why modifying the human body is an ethical necessity.
Why does Enriquez thin transplanting consciousness is important?
>It could facilitate long-term space travel.
What does this language suggest?
>people associate emotions with the heart.
According to Enriquez why is an ethical to modify the human body?
> It's essential for the survival of the human species.
According to Enriques, if a transplanted mouse head keeps its memory scientists might be able to transplant consciousness.
Humans have long associated the heart with emotion.
By changing our DNA, we can create chemistries that are adaptable to different planets.
If humans are to survive long-term extinction, they will need to live beyond the Earth.
