Play Audiobook Sample
The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(0.00) - 0 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
A New Yorker Best Book of the Year
A breakthrough investigation of synthetic biology: the promising and controversial technology platform that combines biology and artificial intelligence and has the potential to program biological systems like we program computers.
The breakthrough science of synthetic biology has the potential to help solve humanity’s existential challenges from climate change, to the health and feeding of millions, to fighting the next viral outbreak before it becomes a global pandemic.
A promising and controversial science that combines biology and artificial intelligence, synthetic biology opens up the possibility of programming biological systems much as we program computers. Rather than life being “a beautiful game of chance,” synthetic biology can give us control over our genetic destiny, say no to bad genes, and add new capabilities into any cell, microbe, plant, or animal—enabling us not just to read and edit DNA, but write it. And herein lies the controversy.
Whether we approve or disapprove, synthetic biology is coming. Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel give us the understanding we need to assess both the promise and peril of the science as well as the complex ethical, moral, political, and societal issues surrounding it.
Download and start listening now!
"[A] thought-provoking introduction to synthetic biology…[a] breathtaking science, but it is also scary. Who's in charge, and where are the brakes?"
— Booklist
Quotes
-
“[A] breathtaking science, but it is also scary. Who’s in charge, and where are the brakes?”
— Booklist -
“[A] fascinating survey of the present and future of biotechnology.”
— Nature -
“[A] road map for navigating [synthetic biology’s] opportunities and perils.”
— New Yorker -
“Deeply researched but accessible prose…A wrinkle on the near future that many readers will not have pondered—and should.”
— Kirkus Reviews
The Genesis Machine Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
About the Authors
Amy Webb is the founder of the Future Today Institute, a leading foresight and strategy firm. She is a professor of strategic foresight at New York University’s Stern School of Business and a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University’s Säid School of Business. She was elected a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, and serves as a Steward and Steering Committee member of the World Economic Forum. Webb was named by Forbes as “one of the five women changing the world” and was honored as one of the BBC’s 100 Women of 2020. She is the author of The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity and The Signals are Talking: Why Today's Fringe is Tomorrow's Mainstream. She resides in Baltimore, MD.
Andrew Hessel, a pioneer and an expert in the field of synthetic biology, is the president of Humane Genomics, an early-stage company developing synthetic viruses for canine and human oncology. He is also the co-founder and chairman of the Center of Excellence for Engineering Biology and the Genome Project, the international scientific effort to engineer large genomes, including the human genome. He is a former distinguished research scientist at Autodesk Life Sciences.
About the Narrators
Amanda Dolan is a professional actor in the MFA program at Brown University. Her credits include Richard III, Macbeth, Falsettos, The Rocky Horror Show, Hair, and The Who’s Tommy.
Tim Campbell, winner of AudioFile Earphones Awards, is a narrator and actor based in Los Angeles, California. He studied at the University of California and earned a BA in music and theater and a certification from the prestigious Great Books program at Pepperdine University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He is also a classically trained singer and performs regularly with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Los Angeles Opera Chorus, as well as on studio soundtracks for film and television.
Kevin R. Free is an audiobook narrator and the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and several AudioFile best narrations of the year selections. Known for his work with young-adult novels, he has read titles by Rick Riordan, Walter Dean Myers, and Joe Haldeman. In 2011 he was named a Best Voice in Young Adult and Fantasy from AudioFile magazine for his narration of Myers’ The Cruisers: Checkmate.