Talk at the Do Lectures, Spring 2012, about computing, the future and genetics.

1. 1
I walked past an art gallery in Soho a few months ago and saw this artwork by Tim Etchells. I
realised I could reply to pretty much every email I receive with just this sentence.

2. A designer who
can’t draw
2
Hello, I’m Chris. I’m a designer, but not a designer that can draw.

3. 3
no, really

4. my medium is the
present
4
So what do I work in? I work in the present.

5. or, the recently
possible
5
the Internet, mobile phones, apps, Wi-Fi, social networks, GPS, games consoles, computer
vision...

6. self-ethnography
6
I’m a big believer in self-ethnography. Try new technology on yourself, what does it feel like
to use new technology, and how does that alter what you design and how you design.

7. what happens when
you publish your
location online?
7
As an example, in 2004 I hacked together a GPS, mobile phone, what would now be called an
app and a server to make a system that published my location on my website, live.

8. 8
It felt different: it honestly felt like drawing a line in space.

9. 9
Unfortunately I got some of the maths wrong, and a friend got a bit worried I was in the
middle of the Baltic Sea.

10. build enough to
get you into
trouble
10
I believe in designing through making and exploring new mediums through making mistakes.

11. designers have the
responsibility to
live with their
designs
11
...and to make all the embarrassing mistakes before the public has to use it.

12. unintended
consequences
12
There are always unintended consequences of technology that you can’t predict.

13. (Girls Around You)
13
Girls around me used Foursquare checkins and Facebook profiles to create a deeply creepy
app.

14. why will the
future be
confusing?
14

15. technology
15
The very medium I design in, the recently possible, means that the future will always be
confusing.

16. PRINTING, Power,
steam, electricity,
TELECOMMUNICATIONS...
16
It’s nothing new for technology to change everything - it’s what it does. It causes revolutions.

17. computation
17
But our revolution, out technology, the one we have to deal with now is computation.

18. Moore’s Law
18
Gordon Moore made the observation in 1965 that the density of transistors on a computer
chip was doubling every 24 months - or in other words, computers got twice as fast every 24
months.

19. 19
In fact, he was wrong, they were doubling every 18 months. And it’s never stopped.

20. Intel’s business
plan
20
- because it became Intel’s business plan.

21. everyone’s business
plan
21
And because computers define most businesses, it’s now everyone’s business plan. Few
industries aren’t changed by this.

22. personal
computation is no
longer a luxury
22
On the other hand, at a personal level computation is no longer a luxury.

23. (toy example)
23
This toy recognises six commands by voice recognition.

24. pocket cameras can
now recognise More
people than a 6
month old child
24
All compact cameras now recognise 10-15 faces.

25. so, now everything
is a computer
25

26. computers are
better than humans
26
at some things...

27. for:
analytical decisions,
hypersensing,
repetition
27

28. but not:
critical judgement,
Creativity,
craft
28

29. always keep in
mind, humans
program the
computers
29
I’m not talking about intelligence, artificial life or the singularity.

30. Let’s look at AN
example of how
ubiquitous
computers change
our lives
30
The power of computing is already changing the way we live.

31. urban screens,
algorithmic trading,
Synthetic biology,
data mining, 3D
printing,
neurogastronomy...
31
I could have picked from a million examples...

32. genetics
32
But I want to talk about genetics.

33. you are 3.3 billion
base-pairs of DNA
33
Genetics is big data, and computers are good at big data.

34. 786Mb of data
34
You are about a CD’s worth of data.

35. 35
Or a bookcase when printed out (this is in the Wellcome collection).

36. first sequenced in
2004
36
The first complete human genome took 14 years to sequence...

37. by 2008, 5 people
had had their
complete genome
mapped
37
and only 5 complete human genomes were mapped in 4 years.

38. (cost slide)
38
but the cost is nosediving - from $100 million

39. Currently costs
just over $1000
39
and will probably cost $100 for a complete genome in 2-3 years.

40. but
40

41. individual genomes
vary by less than
1% from each other
41

42. 8Mb of data
42
Or a large photo, or a YouTube clip.

43. 23andme
43
There’s a service called 23andme....

44. 1MB of your genome
for $99
98% accuracy
44
which genotypes the most important million bits of data for $99.

45. 45
This is what you do...

46. 46
I paid my 100 bucks a few years ago, and spat in a tube.

47. 47
and potentially you can do it in your own home by the end of the year (for $1000)

48. ubiquitous genetics
changes medicine
48

49. 49
So here’s what my DNA tells me. Honestly, you don’t want to be a hypochondriac if you do
this. There’s quite a frissant when you click through the final warning about what you might
find out. I’ve hidden the juiciest information, as this is being videoed - what diseases I’m
more susceptible to...

50. Genetic Information
Nondiscrimination
Act of 2008
50
because in the US, by law, currently, this data cannot be used against me...

51. no such act in the
UK
51
but nothing similar in the UK - there is an industry moratorium until 2017 - and who knows
what public opinion will be by then. But I believe knowledge is power, and I’m glad I know
what I can try to change to overcome my genes...

52. 52
On the other hand, I learnt I have a superpower - resistance to norovirus.

53. 53
Now, I’m gay and a lot less likely to have a kid, but if I did, this is the information I’d want to
know - genes that could be passed on and cause a genetic disease. Which opens a huge can
of ethical worms.

54. a change in
medicine from
averages to
individuals
54

55. 55
Most drugs being developed today will not work for most of the population.

56. I’m interested in
more immediate,
day-to-day uses
56
These could be seen as more frivolous, but as we have the data and the computing power...

57. exercise
57

58. 58
Now, I knew I was never going to be a sprinter... my genes conspired against me.

59. 59
Then I saw a BBC programme called the Truth about Exercise, which talked about research
where a few genes decide whether you gain additional oxygen capacity if you do exercise.

60. 60
BBC News carried an article that linked to the research paper - 20% of people show no real
improvement...

61. 61
Here’s the research...

62. 62
but you had to find the patent to find out which genes were being used.

63. 63
Which, of course, the community at 23andme had already worked though and linked up so
you can see your results (turns out I’m never going to be much of an endurance athlete too).
There is nothing that feels more like the future than watching TV, hearing about new
research, and looking up things on your own genes.

64. taste
64
Does our genetics mean that we taste things differently? Could we get to a point where we get
pointed to things on a menu due to our genes?

65. sense of smell,
sense of taste
65
We are still learning how people experience smell and taste (often by sticking people in MRIs).

66. 66
Who here can smell asparagus in their wee?

67. 1. taste nothing
2. tastes bitter
3. the bitterest
thing ever
67
Let’s look for another taste: bitterness. [here everyone had an envelope containing a strip of
PTC, a very bitter chemical that can be tasted depending on a particular gene]
A warning: some of you really won’t enjoy this.
Who was in which group?

68. 1. taste-blind
2. normal taster
3. super taster
68
Those that can’t taste anything are considered taste-blind, and those that thought it was the
worst thing ever are supertasters. But being super isn’t good!

69. 69
This is the gene, it’s on our 7th chromosome.

70. “It is the business
of the future to be
dangerous; and it is
among the merits of
science that it
equips the future
for its duties.”
• Alfred North Whitehead, 1925
70
I want to end with pretty much my motto for life, by Alfred North Whitehead, a philosopher of
science, taken from his 1925 book Science & The Modern World.

71. Thank you.
@antimega
anti-mega.com
• thanks to russ london & WGSIMON for wikimedia cc images
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