1.
Intelligent Life? Implications of Biotechnology

2.
How Genetic Code Works <ul><li>Juan Enriquez presentation: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/80 </li></ul><ul><li>Genetic Code “sequenced” by huge computers </li></ul><ul><li>Syntax of the code is critical </li></ul><ul><li>Can reprogram cells to re-grow organs and alter species </li></ul><ul><li>An apple is an “application” that executes a program </li></ul>

3.
We Already Work with Code <ul><li>Open the source code of a web page </li></ul><ul><li>This code tells the browser how to display a web page </li></ul>Genetic Code

4.
What Applications Do We Already Know? <ul><li>Photoshop – PowerPoint are “executables” </li></ul><ul><li>Word Macro Recorder can generate code </li></ul>

5.
Did These Applications “Evolve”?

6.
We Now Realize That: Genetic Code is Identical <ul><li>It is “decodable” – because it has meaning </li></ul><ul><li>It is more than just complex – it is intentionally structured “to do” </li></ul><ul><li>-- not simply “to be” </li></ul><ul><li>An Application executes </li></ul><ul><li>Consider: Did genetic code begin to execute by chance? </li></ul>

7.
Is Evolution Sufficient? <ul><ul><li>Evolution can account for life’s complexity </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>But evolution posits a “replicator” </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Richard Dawkins “The Selfish Gene” </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>A “Replicator” is an application </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>It is a program, not a file </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>It is Being for Itself </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>- Sartre </li></ul></ul></ul>

8.
A Dose of Reality

9.
Nazis Used Computers and Genetics to Control Europe <ul><li>Embraced Eugenics and Social Darwinism </li></ul><ul><li>Kaiser Wilhelm Institute </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Supported by Rockefeller Foundation </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Verschuer and Mengele experimented with twins </li></ul></ul><ul><li>The First Computers: IBM Hollerith Machines </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Supported by IBM NY – not just Germany </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Used for census – locate “inferiors” </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Created racial database – sort and filter </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Helped run railroads and death camps </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Source: Edwin Black – “IBM and the Holocaust” and “The War Against the Weak” </li></ul></ul></ul>

10.
What does it mean?

11.
This is Not an Argument for Intelligent Design <ul><li>This is about more than complexity – it’s about programming </li></ul><ul><li>An anthropomorphic Creator solves nothing </li></ul><ul><li>In terms of code, God is like a variable seeking a value </li></ul><ul><li>Parables make sense from a modern perspective </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Noah’s Ark = backup up data? </li></ul></ul><ul><li>As an application (we) can give the variable value as we execute our lives </li></ul>

12.
The Limits of Logic <ul><ul><li>From a virus to an apple, Life is programmed </li></ul></ul><ul><li>What made the first virus replicate, and begin the evolutionary process? </li></ul><ul><ul><li>An Accident or… </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>A very primitive Decision? </li></ul></ul><ul><li>An Application is an entirely different being from an object </li></ul><ul><li>Being = Intelligence </li></ul><ul><li>Science must begin to address this fact </li></ul>

13.
A Modest Proposal <ul><li>Drop destructive primitive theologies </li></ul><ul><li>Understand the implications of science to avoid subjugation </li></ul><ul><li>Accept the reality of higher intelligence </li></ul><ul><li>Force scientific dogma to account for the mind </li></ul>

14.
Death = Blue Screen = Reboot?