This document discusses the similarities and connections between computers and biology/biotechnology. It notes that both are autocatalytic technologies that develop quickly through open source approaches and hacking. It then discusses how biology and biotechnology are becoming more accessible to everyone as prices fall, as seen through biohacklabs like La Paillasse in Paris. The document envisions a future where biology and computers increasingly converge and inform each other, with possibilities like living cities maintained by engineered bacteria and protocell computers.

1. Computers and life : two sisters
technologies
● Same impact ; they are both autocatalytic
technologies
● Same logic : quick development, open
source, hacking
● Same algorithmic processes

2. Biotech for everyone ?

3. Falling prices

4. La Paillasse : a biohacklab in
Paris

5. Some projects from la Paillasse
● Bioreactor : for microorganisms culture
● Transilluminator : to “see” DNA molecules
(20 euros)
● “Gloves box” : to manipulate cultures in a
sterile environment (300 euros)
● Bacterial ink
● Objects made from bacterial cellulose
● Biodegradable electronics: a project in
partnership with Sony engineers

7. From biology to computers

8. From computers to biology

9. And the best of both worlds

10. Living cities
●“Bacteria will be engineered to target specific materials, like aging concrete. Released into cities,
they will replace the old stuff with new bacterial glue that’s structurally sound, networked, and
computational. Other bacteria could perform similar maintenance by retrofitting aging utility conduits
and faded solar skins. Protocell computers could also be released into ecosystems, sensing
chemical properties and transmitting them on mesh networks to remote dashboards. Vats of bacteria
will pump out fuels, protein resources, and water.”
● Chris Arkenberg, “Cities Of The Future, Built By Drones, Bacteria, And 3-D
Printers”

11. ● "The final step in the domestication of
biotechnology will be biotech games,
designed like computer games for children
down to kindergarten age but played with
real eggs and seeds rather than with
images on a screen. Playing such games,
kids will acquire an intimate feeling for the
organisms that they are growing. The
winner could be the kid whose seed grows
the prickliest cactus, or the kid whose egg
hatches the cutest dinosaur."

12. Jurassic Park 2.0
● "A later technique under development in my Harvard lab will allow us to
resurrect practically any extinct animal whose genome is known or can be
reconstructed from fossil remains, up to and including the woolly mammoth,
the passenger pigeon, and even Neanderthal man. "
● George Church and Ed Regis

13. A biological singularity ?
● We are moving rapidly into the post-
Darwinian era, when species other than our
own will no longer exist, and the rules of
Open Source sharing will be extended from
the exchange of software to the exchange
of genes. Then the evolution of life will once
again be communal, as it was in the good
old days before separate species and
intellectual property were invented.
● Freeman Dyson