Future of Science & Technology Q&A (May 10, 2024)
Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Have you used LLMs to analyze genetic language? - Will bacteria become more resistant/stronger against human bodies in the future? Or will humans become stronger? - Could you just build specialized cells from scratch using printed DNA? - Can machines replace organs? - Several years ago, I read about research into DNA being used as logic gates. Is this still an active area of research, or has it been dismissed as not useful? - To what extent do you think we'll attain some kind of universality regarding the reprogramming of live biological systems, on par with current software systems running on silicon substrates? - How can cellular automata and systems like John Conway's Game of Life provide insights into evolutionary dynamics? - Can artificial life simulations effectively replicate aspects of biological evolution in a controlled digital environment? - A baseline bacterium for which we fully understand the effect of every gene on its own and of all genes as a whole. - Do you think gene regulatory networks function as "observers like us"? - Might it be possible in the future where if there's a crime, we could put a DNA sequence into a computer and it would show a picture of that person. i.e. by simulating the evolution of the organism?