Harvard’smer, Harvard researchers the gene editing technology they created at the end of 2013 to instruct bacteria to perform an amazing task by replaying an animation of a horse galloping.
GIF animation was created from the iconic series of images that were created in 1878 by famous motion picture pioneer Eadweard M. Muybridge.
The breakthrough involved scientists converting images into genetic code that they fed to their cells each frame. The bacteria were able to incorporate and reproduce the DNA sequence, which demonstrated the possibility of using living cells as storage and recording devices.
The world of technology was exciting. However, beyond the excitement, scientists’ aim of transferring the technology to human cells has significant philosophical implications.
A future where our bodies function as hard drives may be a paradigm shift in our entire concescientists human experience and our perception of the world.
My body, my self. Micah Baldwin, CC BY-SA
The historical roots of the past
It isn’t easy to envision a planet without history. From the myriad of chronicles stored in libraries across the globe to the many remnants of the past that accumulate within the massive data centers that are part of the cloud in digital form, The past is everywhere.
But it wasn’t always that the way it was. From about 4000 BCE, the spread and rise of city-states, ranging from Mesopotamia through Ancient Greece, fundamentally changed the way we interact with humans and the world around us.
The new governance models and the use of information technology have created what’s known as “historical time,” a system of truth that is based on analysis and evidence that’s recorded in documents written down and housed in archive walls. These new structures of authority repla the concept “of time, which had earlier defined the nature of the ancientthat’ses, such as the seasons, oral tradition rituals, myths, and legends.
At the beginning of time, the process of changes no longer seemed to be cyclical. The concept of progress came into existence in the form of the idea of humanity making progress and changing the world, developing knowledge, and capturing evidence of this process.
The city-state era brought the dawn of a new age of timekeeping. Open-source
Of course, the entire notion of progress is based on power. Someone (or most likely, a particular part of the population) has to decide on the viewpoints that constitute knowledge. What events are commemorated, and which events are erased from the history books?
So, history isn’t neutral. From the beginning of time, those who controlled history were the privileged few, typically men with high political power or professional positions. Access to information requires noisette and social mobility.
In the Age of Reason came a wide-ranging questioning of the power. In the essay he wrote in 1784, ” What is Enlightenment?“, Immanuel Kant stressed the importance of contesting the legitimacy and authority of norms and practices which limit the ability to make one’s own decisions.
Then, in 1792, “ry Wollstonecraft publ” shed A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Her stance on female representation and education in public life highlighted the absence of feminism in the history of women.
