Field Test Films Presents Synthetic Biology A Documentary Permaculture Podcast Episode 19
Welcome back to the second half of my chat with Sam Gaty. Sorry for the delay in release! Once again the sound quality on this segment is not the best, but if you can bear with it there are some very interesting topics covered.
The first part of this talk we chat about challenging the environmentalist perspective on genetically modified organisms. Stewart Brand has been an environmental advocate for a long time and produced a book of environmental heresy in 2009 titled Whole Earth Discipline. In which Brand combats the environmentalist perspectives on genetically modified organisms. The other controversial topics not discussed in this episode covered in the book are urbanization, nuclear, and geo-engineering. I found it to be an informative and challenging book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Earth_Discipline
I am personally a big fan of Brands work with the Long Now Foundation. As a permaculturalist I find any exercise in long term thinking valuable. The Long Now Foundation hosts monthly seminars about long term thinking available on line. I recommend listening to their back log and contemplating the last 10,000 years and the next 10,000 years!
http://longnow.org/seminars/
Sam mentions Christopher Voigt who is a mover and shaker in the synthetic biology world. I wanted to share a link to more info about him even though it was a very brief mention in the interview.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Voigtamaris biotechs
Synthetic Aesthetics is also talked about in the interview is a group that brings together the world or art, design, social sciences, and synthetic biology.
http://www.syntheticaesthetics.org/
A few contemporary synthetic biology based bio-technology companies were mentioned as well. Amyris and LS9 are currently producing the next generations of bio-fuel and have very exciting futures.
http://www.amyrisbiotech.com/
http://www.ls9.com/
Thanks for listening!
Ryan Unmack
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