I almost invented a word “Humanotics” – the synthetic replacement of organs, skin, bones and blood vessels - plus gene editing
Stop Press - turns out there is a company called Humanotics
Humanotics - Humanotics - so my apologies to it and its staff.
“We support you end-to-end to deliver smarter operations, interactions and insight. Our Digital Discovery builds your business case and our Digital Garage will design, test and develop innovative but practical AI-powered solutions. If you just want the right people to do it yourself, we can help you find them. Our experienced, flexible team can support your digital customer operations journey every step of the way.”
End Stop Press
We are all familiar with the term “robotics”. Here is a cute 4 minute clip from nine years ago starring “Asimo”:
Looks like it was named after Asimov – who penned three laws of robotics in a 1942 short story “Turnaround”.
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Then there is the Zoroth Law “A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.”
Laws are inevitably broken when unforeseen circumstances arise.
Anyway, leaving that aside, here is a snapshot of the current state of play for “Humanotics”.
I touched on some aspects of this covering this George Church video:
Scientist Stories: George Church, The Future of the Genome Editing Revolution - YouTube
In this article of cliff notes of the video.
There are genetically modified humans running around and 2,300 clinical trials for genetic modifications (just one in Europe).
So what is “Humanotics”?
It is a combination of synthetic organoids, bones, skin and blood vessels and the use of gene editing.
Organoids – from here: Organoid - Wikipedia
“An organoid is a miniaturized and simplified version of an organ produced in vitro in three dimensions that mimics the key functional, structural and biological complexity of that organ.[1] They are derived from one or a few cells from a tissue, embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells, which can self-organize in three-dimensional culture owing to their self-renewal and differentiation capacities.”
Synthetic bones – from here: We Print Bone™ - Ossiform
“The P3D bone printing solution is used to produce patient specific and resorbable bone implants that facilitate the natural forming of new bone. In short: We Print Bone™. We are dedicated to improving the lives of people with bone defects by providing personalized bone-regenerative healthcare solutions, scalable for hospitals worldwide.”
Synthetic skin – from here: Artificial skin - Wikipedia
“Artificial skin is a collagen scaffold that induces regeneration of skin in mammals such as humans. The term was used in the late 1970s and early 1980s to describe a new treatment for massive burns. It was later discovered that treatment of deep skin wounds in adult animals and humans with this scaffold induces regeneration of the dermis. It has been developed commercially under the name Integra and is used in massively burned patients, during plastic surgery of the skin, and in treatment of chronic skin wounds. Alternatively, the term "artificial skin" sometimes is used to refer to skin-like tissue grown in a laboratory, although this technology is still quite a way away from being viable for use in the medical field. 'Artificial skin' can also refer to flexible semiconductor materials that can sense touch for those with prosthetic limbs (also experimental).”
Link to Integra here: How Skin Grafts Work | HowStuffWorks with more detail here: How Skin Grafts Work | HowStuffWorks
Synthetic blood vessels – from here:
“Vascular replacement is the preferred surgical option for treating obstructed vascular structures. Due to the limited availability of healthy autologous vessels as well as the incidence of postoperative complications, there is an increasing demand for artificial blood vessels. From synthetic to natural, or a mixture of these components, numerous materials have been used to prepare artificial vascular grafts. Although synthetic grafts are more appropriate for use in medium to large-diameter vessels, they fail when replacing small-diameter vessels. Tissue-engineered vascular grafts are very likely to be an ideal alternative to autologous grafts in small-diameter vessels and are worthy of further investigation. However, a multitude of problems remain that must be resolved before they can be used in biomedical applications.”
Synthetic blood vessels may face huge demand to treat the adverse events of C19 and C19 injections!
Gene editing – from here: Gene editing | Definition, History, & CRISPR-Cas9 | Britannica
“gene editing, the ability to make highly specific changes in the DNA sequence of a living organism, essentially customizing its genetic makeup. Gene editing is performed using enzymes, particularly nucleases that have been engineered to target a specific DNA sequence, where they introduce cuts into the DNA strands, enabling the removal of existing DNA and the insertion of replacement DNA. Key among gene-editing technologies is a molecular tool known as CRISPR-Cas9, a powerful technology discovered in 2012 by American scientist Jennifer Doudna, French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier, and colleagues and refined by American scientist Feng Zhang and colleagues. CRISPR-Cas9 functioned with precision, allowing researchers to remove and insert DNA in the desired locations.
The significant leap in gene-editing tools brought new urgency to long-standing discussions about the ethical and social implications surrounding the genetic engineering of humans. Many questions, such as whether genetic engineering should be used to treat human disease or to alter traits such as beauty or intelligence, had been asked in one form or another for decades. With the introduction of facile and efficient gene-editing technologies, particularly CRISPR-Cas9, however, those questions were no longer theoretical, and the answers to them stood to have very real impacts on medicine and society. “
Gene editing raises the issue – especially when combined with some of the other synthetic techniques – “if you can repair a part, you can create the whole”.
Now, it may be that future ChatGPT or Alexa derivatives can develop into what would qualify as a “sentient state” – meaning that synthetic/machine learning (rather than “artificial” intelligence which is merely a manifestation of the ability of those that program it) can replicate or outmatch any human brain.
3D precision printing becomes crucial as does the operating theatre. Are humans capable or will operations have to be done by robots.
All that is missing is the human soul – oh and whatever all the human and bacteria cells and viruses do to keep us alive.
Onwards!
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Excellent new word, Peter, AND compelling article.
https://youtu.be/XqTHqfXGqO8