Pathology Conference 2015 - Homo sapiens 2.0 - Sina Marzoughi

Homo sapiens 2.0

1

Pathology Conference 2015 - Homo sapiens 2.0 - Sina Marzoughi 2

✒ Introduction“If you can’t criticize, you can’t optimize” - Harry Potter & the Methods of Rationality, HPMOR.com

“We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.” - Richard P. Feynman

Homo sapiens 2.0 3

Evolutions are slow and inefficient. ✒

The limitations and inefficiency of evolution via natural selection.

Discussing the limitations of evolution does NOT mean creationism. Evolutions, however limited, can still explain observed biology; in fact the limitations are necessary to fully understand evolution.

The wonder of evolutions is not how well they work, but that they work at all - Eliezer Yudkowsky

❞❞

But work anyways.

Homo sapiens 2.0 4

✒

Exactly how slow is evolution?

Suppose a beneficial mutation conveys an advantage of 3% in a

population of 100,000. This gene would require an average of 768 generations to reach universality. 2 ln(N) / s

Evolutions are slow and inefficient.But work regardless.

Homo sapiens 2.0 5

✒

All this assumes that the gene spreads in the first place.  Here the equation is simpler and ends up not depending at all on population size:

A mutation that conveys a 3% advantage has a 6% of spreading.

probability of fixation = 2s

Evolutions are slow and inefficient.But work regardless.

Homo sapiens 2.0 6

✒

Contrast this speed and efficiency to a human programmer.

A human programer can design a new complex mechanism with a hundred different parts over the course of a single afternoon. 

Humans can design new parts in anticipation of later designing other new parts; produce coordinated simultaneous changes in interdependent machinery and learn by observing single test cases. By the standards of natural selection, this is simply magic.

"One grad student can do things in an hour that evolution could not do in a billion years.” - evolutionary biologist Cynthia Kenyon

❞❞

Evolutions are slow and inefficient.But work regardless.

Homo sapiens 2.0 7

✒

The wonders of evolution?

Some evolutionary handiwork is impressive even by comparison to the best technology of Homo sapiens.  In some ways, biology still excels over the best human technology: we can't build a self-replicating system the size of a butterfly.  On the other hand, we got wheels, we got steel, we got guns, we got knives, we got rockets, we got transistors, we got nuclear power plants. 

With every passing decade, that balance tips further.

💦

Evolutions are slow and inefficient.But work regardless.

Pathology Conference 2015 - Homo sapiens 2.0 - Sina Marzoughi 8

⏳Redesigning Human Physiology& Tissue Reengineering

Homo sapiens 2.0 9

Re-thinking Tissue Reengineering

⏳

Homo sapiens 2.0 10

Thank you.