The key ideas

The Genesis Machine

Amy Webb, Andrew Hessel, 2022

A vaccine designed on a computer in a couple of days. A bacterium living by a genome that people wrote. Futurist Amy Webb and biologist Andrew Hessel show how humanity learned to rewrite the code of life, what it will give us, and which risks all of us will have to bring under control.

Who it is for

For anyone who wants a plain-language, panic-free look at how genetic engineering and synthetic biology will change medicine and everyday life.

If life is code, the big question is no longer whether we can rewrite it. It’s how we agree to do it.

What the book is about

Imagine you could edit living things as easily as text on your phone. Find a typo in a cell, delete it and type in a new line. Not long ago this sounded like science fiction. Amy Webb and Andrew Hessel insist: it’s already happening, and most people simply haven’t noticed.

They call it the “genesis machine”: a new science, synthetic biology, in which engineers are learning not only to read the code of life but to write it. You’ll find out how the race for the genome turned into an industry, how scientists built the first cell with a synthetic genome, and why the COVID vaccine was designed in a matter of days. You’ll also see which risks the authors worry about and why all of us will have to decide how to live with this power. The fact that you opened a book about a science many people fear or ignore already says you have a bold and curious mind.

Idea 1. Life is code, and we’ve learned to write it

What do a bacterium, a rose and you have in common? Inside every cell lies an instruction written with just four letters. That’s DNA. The authors’ central idea is simple and bold: if life is code, it can be not only read but rewritten.

That’s exactly what synthetic biology does. It blends biology with an engineering mindset. Scientists design the DNA sequence they need on a computer, order it to be synthesized and insert it into a cell. The cell becomes a tiny factory that does whatever it was “programmed” to do.

Most people make the mistake of thinking of biology as that school subject about frogs and leaves. The authors see it as the next big technology, on a par with computers and the internet.

What this means for you: when you hear about “gene editing,” don’t think of a miracle, think of programming. Living things are becoming a platform on which new products will be built.

You open a document, spot an extra letter and fix it. Now imagine the document is a seed, and your fix makes the plant drought-resistant. That’s roughly how synthetic biology engineers look at a cell.

Biology is no longer just the science of life. It’s becoming the engineering of life.

Read in Livria

About the author

Amy Webb is an American futurist, founder of the Future Today Institute and author of “The Big Nine.” Andrew Hessel is a synthetic biology expert and a co-founder of the Genome Project-write.

All books by this author: Amy Webb, Andrew Hessel

Terms from the book

  • DNA
  • Genome
  • Synthetic biology: A science that joins biology and engineering: scientists design and assemble DNA so that cells do the job they need.
  • Sequencing: Reading DNA: working out the order of the “letters” in a genetic chain.
  • CRISPR: A gene-editing tool that finds the right stretch of DNA and cuts it precisely. Borrowed from bacteria.
  • mRNA: A temporary copy of an instruction for the cell. mRNA vaccines teach cells to make a harmless piece of a virus so the immune system learns to recognize it in advance.
  • Bioeconomy: An economy where living cells become the raw material and the “factory”: they produce food, materials and medicines.

All terms

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