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RE: The solution to my “Decode the message” challenge lies within the Nobel Prize for Medicine/Physiology from 1968.
Such an interesting challenge! I would have never guessed, ha ha. Super impressed with the two who did though.
I wasn't sure if anyone would manage, but I thought that at least someone with a biology education would be able to connect the lines :-) And it proved to be the case.
Craig Venter and his team produced a synthetic bacterium from scratch, and left a watermark message in its genome in 2010.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/may/20/craig-venter-synthetic-life-form
And here are the translations of the messages:
https://singularityhub.com/2010/05/24/venters-newest-synthetic-bacteria-has-secret-messages-coded-in-its-dna/#sm.0000pvwks8spqeenz6u116ze918dd
Did not exactly know about this, before I made the puzzle :-)
I have a biology background... 🙈 I think you need to have the ability to think outside the box though.
Julian Savulescu, mentioned, in the first article above, that ‘Venter’ is playing God, by creating new species.... If the intention is to create organisms for the greater good, then there is no problem? God gave us a beautiful mind, capable of creation. We create music, art, film everyday. Surely ‘biological art’ is not a sin?
Julian Salvulesci is an interesting man though. I have read a lot of his work on ethics in sport. He holds some interesting opinions.
I didn't have Savulescu on my radar. Let's see, if synchronicity will lead me to stumble upon him again :-D
To me, his quote in the article, sounds rather neutral, without taking judgement. Myself, I don't see a problem with this synthetic creation. "Playing god" is a hollow term to spread FUD among people.
Humans have played god since they lighted the first fire and learned how to produce and use tools. Humans have played god when they domesticated wolfs and bred them towards ridiculous dog races.
The difference with genetic engineering is that it can be precise, goal-directed and safe, if executed smartly.
The intentions of the people behind the technology are critical. A.I. Is another technology which has so many beneficial uses, yet, is dangerous in the wrong hands.