At the World Youth Festival held in Sochi in October 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin shocked those present with his statement and his proximity to creating a person with desired characteristics. Genetic programming and genetic algorithms as a tool of biotechnology enter the existential path of development. The future has already come, and there are many examples of this. The world will enter the era of human genetic programming during our lifetime. The built-in genes of health and genius, the victory over hereditary diseases and the general upgrade of a person are no longer illusions of science fiction. These are practical genetic programming technologies.
Barriers are broken
Previously, it was a dogma that it was impossible to copy hereditary information to DNA. But now everything has changed. In 2006, molecular biologists E. Fire and C. Mellow received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of a mechanism to enable the functioning of any gene in the human genome - RNA interference. These are the mechanisms of changes in the existing gene set. But nature itself has presented us with yet another mechanism of influence on our gene set. These viruses are unique organisms that can rewrite host cell information. It is they who, through reverse transcription, are able to introduce new into the DNA available in the cell. And already changed DNA multiplies along with the host cells. Viral biotechnology is one of the ways for the development of human genetic programming according to specified characteristics.
The first step has already been taken
An example of genetic programming today is doping for athletes, which the whole world of professional sports has talked about. Genetic doping - repoxygen - is a complex of DNA that encodes a protein produced by the kidneys, erythropoietin. The composition of the drug also includes a system for delivering information to cells based on a vector virus. This protein is responsible for stimulating the formation of red blood cells. The connection is direct - more red blood cells, more oxygen in the tissues, better results. So far, this pharmacological discovery is just a product of closed laboratories, but the day is very close when genetic programming and modification will become a commercial product.
Humanitarian technologies and their tasks
Many technologies are called humane technologies, the purpose of which was the modification of human genetics. The instrument of their action is quasi-chemical manipulation of DNA molecules. Today, human technology is the genetic programming of a person according to specified characteristics, the technology of RNA interference and DNA recombination, cloning, transgenesis, nano-medicine technologies, information-media and computer-network clusters. The tasks of human technology in solving many problems:
- The deliverance of mankind from gene diseases.
- Life extension and selective selection of embryos.
- Improving the human genome with the transition to Homo tecnologoficus'a (posthumanity).
- Creation of “ideal” and “medicinal” babies.
- Psychogenomics, which hunts for the genes responsible for the formation of personality, its identity, psyche and behavior.
- The creation of drugs that will be exact copies of the individual substances of the body.
And this is not a complete list of problems that will help solve humane biotechnology, thereby opening up new possibilities for human genetic programming.
The era of postinformation
It is in this period of development that humanity will enter in the near future. Biotechnology will enter our lives and become commonplace. Our children will read about hereditary diseases in history books, the birth rate will be taken under control, and evolution will be controlled by people. Man, as a self-reproducing biological system, will itself become a program. A system with the ability to fix errors, the presence of service folders and improvement opportunities. The gene program "death" will be replaced by "immortality"; we will embed in the genome programs of health, intelligence, and sexual attractiveness. And, in the end, neuroimplants and human genetic programming will erase the boundaries between humans and machines.
Parallel world
And while bioengineers are working in the field of biological modifications, mathematicians and programmers are working in the field of genetic programming of artificial systems. And while in the 80-90s of the last century the terms “evolutionary computing” and “genetic algorithm” were still new, today the words “artificial intelligence” and “digital Darwinism” are used not only by specialists. The founder of genetic programming as applied to artificial systems, Professor John Coza from Stanford introduced the theory of “evolution of machines” into the scientific community. Genetic algorithms work - that's what matters. How? The answer will be long and not entirely clear to non-specialists. Let us illustrate with an example.
Smart cars
In 2002, the British center "Magna" worked pavilion "Life of robots." In this pavilion, twelve robots created and working on the basis of genetic algorithms and digital evolution fought for survival. Half of them themselves produced energy for their existence using solar panels. They were called heliophages. The second half - predators, they were not endowed with such an ability and were charged only after catching the heliophage. Those robots that survived loaded their programs into descendant robots. The show did not last long - it was closed when one of the robots wiser and decided to escape from the pavilion. Then the war of man and cars did not start just because the fugitive was hit by a car in the parking lot.
Scary premises
Reasonable artificial systems that work with a minimum of human participation or without it at all conceal many surprises. Sometimes alarming and frightening. At the University of Sussex, the machine was tasked with the evolutionary method and gene algorithms to grow an oscillator. The task was completed - the manufactured device issued a periodic signal. But, as it turned out, he did not produce it himself, but caught the signals of nearby electronic devices and passed them off as his own. Will a device that uses not electrical appliances, but you and me, become the next stage in digital evolution?
They may be smarter.
At John Coat’s company, Genetic Programming, based on the only (so far) home-made computer consisting of thousands of Pentiums with characteristics of 350 megahertz, was able to repeat 15 inventions, of which 6 received patents after 2000, and one even surpasses the human analogue in characteristics.
These inventions belong to artificial intelligence, which works on the basis of gene algorithms and digital evolution. How soon will patents be issued to machines? The results of electronic evolution are already in Boeing 777 engines and ultra-modern antibiotics. Experts predict that in the next 5-10 years, genetic programming will create more products than have already been created and sold.
Matrix Future
The current level of development of gene programming is still in its infancy. Autonomous growing robots requires the latest technology, which is not yet available. But the investment compass indicator is aimed at financing computer, telecommunication and biological technologies. In that order. We finance the creation of the digital world ourselves. Digital technologies are developing and doing so rapidly. Just 40 years ago, a mobile phone existed in the imagination of science fiction writers, and today, almost every gadget has 8 megapixel cameras. But can the user of this phone explain the technology of his work?
Do not become us cows
The digital world is replacing the biological. Analogs of genes in our culture (memes), originating in imposed ideas, melodies, pictures, and other mental viruses, are becoming the subject of evolution. All previous history was subordinated to the creation of the most acceptable carrier of the mentioned memes. At first there was a man. Then radio and television were added to it. And finally, the Internet with programs capable of self-reproduction and work on bugs. Our cute cows do not assume that they were created by us to service the apparatus for receiving milk from them. And no matter what the cow thinks about it, have you seen a free wild cow?