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What happens when biology becomes technology? | Christina Agapakis

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. “We’ve been promised a future of chrome — but what if the future is fleshy?” asks biological designer Christina Agapakis. In this awe-inspiring talk, Agapakis details her work in synthetic biology — a multidisciplinary area of research that pokes…

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Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

“We’ve been promised a future of chrome — but what if the future is fleshy?” asks biological designer Christina Agapakis. In this awe-inspiring talk, Agapakis details her work in synthetic biology — a multidisciplinary area of research that pokes holes in the line between what’s natural and artificial — and shares how breaking down the boundaries between science, society, nature and technology can lead us to imagine different possible futures.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You’re welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), submit a Media Request here:

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91 Comments

91 Comments

  1. Casey Flentye

    August 2, 2020 at 7:39 pm

    The word biology is offensive. Biology implies that organisms, animals are predisposed to a confined box. I identify as a butterfly and have been time traveling for years. But not earth years. The rich should also be giving all of their money to the poor. Besides Obama and Oprah and Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Just the bad people. I also don’t work so I protest to make this world a better place.

  2. Herman Johnson

    August 2, 2020 at 7:52 pm

    Well explained. Good stuff

  3. A

    August 2, 2020 at 7:54 pm

    Then more conspiracy theories form

  4. Jommy Davi

    August 2, 2020 at 8:27 pm

    Her shirt’s becoming biology from the looks of it

  5. feidaoxi-healing dot com

    August 2, 2020 at 8:28 pm

    Biology ‘d better add the invisible in the research. 15’-minute original guided meditations that cover a wide range of themes for ego-observation that will make your “biology” work better!

  6. Thomas De Quincey

    August 2, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    21st Century Alchemy.

  7. Ferdose Abdulrub

    August 2, 2020 at 8:46 pm

    Why does the way she speaks remind me of Emma Watson?!

  8. Declan Davey: Work-Life Balance Tips

    August 2, 2020 at 8:55 pm

    Humans make technology is true. Humans take technology too far is probably also true… in terms of environmental impact. Can’t have a good economy without good ecology (not for long, anyway).

  9. Northern Alberta

    August 2, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    You are not talking to children, can you please talk like an adult

    • Charlie KINGSTON

      August 3, 2020 at 12:17 am

      She is a child inside adult body

  10. Simon France

    August 2, 2020 at 9:39 pm

    Eee we ugly

  11. DrAmira Belal

    August 2, 2020 at 9:51 pm

    This is my comment before watching the video I wish having deep thinking and view

  12. REC

    August 2, 2020 at 10:00 pm

    Biotechnology

  13. Fabio Fernandes

    August 2, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    There are so many big unsettled questions about life and health that we are far from a technology based on reality… I’m afraid “technology” in this area would be pure business rather than real science and that’s not good

  14. Abatos 11

    August 2, 2020 at 10:15 pm

    Globalists funding liberal arts majors to create nasty stuff to shove down peoples throats. YUCK! NO THANKS!!

  15. Nickname 42

    August 2, 2020 at 10:26 pm

    Biology is the technology of a universally self-organizing system. There is no place in this universe where the laws of nature do not work as they do on Earth. All stars will have fused hydrogen to uranium at some point. After 118, the elements may eventually become stable again at some prime number. Matter creates awareness wherever it is possible.

  16. WATCH ME

    August 2, 2020 at 10:47 pm

    Dear strangers who like may your parents live 100 years

    • Charlie KINGSTON

      August 3, 2020 at 12:16 am

      Thanks bro

  17. 정민경

    August 2, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    Work for better life, but don’t change too much. The picture is terrific. Biology is a good tool for better life but dangerous.

    • Charlie KINGSTON

      August 3, 2020 at 12:33 am

      Nothing stays same, end of World is coming

  18. Kev

    August 2, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    Can’t you use the plant to bring it back from extinction?

    • Charlie KINGSTON

      August 3, 2020 at 12:17 am

      Watch too much anime

  19. Raúl

    August 2, 2020 at 11:31 pm

    Before watching this video I thought the future was going to be good, now I think it would be breathtaking.

  20. Sergio Garcia

    August 2, 2020 at 11:33 pm

    i’ mean, cool. But also, gross.

  21. Tet Zet

    August 2, 2020 at 11:46 pm

    She’s like an old sister of Emma Watson. Lol

    • Charlie KINGSTON

      August 3, 2020 at 12:17 am

      Who

  22. Brittany Snell

    August 3, 2020 at 12:19 am

    How do you get into a career in synthetic biology? I have reached a dead end as a Mechanical engineer with an associate’s degree. I used to study chemical engineering and physics.

    • Charlie KINGSTON

      August 3, 2020 at 12:32 am

      Big bang theory?

  23. Fitri Abbas

    August 3, 2020 at 12:58 am

    She kinda looks like Emma Watson

  24. Sanjeev Radhakrishnan

    August 3, 2020 at 1:16 am

    eh computers are still superior

  25. Serge Leviticus

    August 3, 2020 at 1:18 am

    is this video for children?
    btw. this vocal fry…. 😭😭😭

  26. onkar athith

    August 3, 2020 at 8:42 am

    Not long ago engineering the piston of an IC engine was considered more of an art than Science!! Simply because whatever is beyond our rational corpus, we mystify calling it art or god!! We love mystery!! Don’t we? But Why? Because with mystery there are rich , inexhaustible and interesting possibilities that titillate us. As we expand our rational corspus, art/God becomes boring knowledge/technology!! We then respond by pushing the boundaries of Science/Technology into the realms of art/God!! That’s how we keep ourselves entertained and prevent ourselves from dying of boredom!! The side-effect of this innate activity we call “progress” whatever that means!!
    At a time when the richest and the most technologically advanced nation has not resolved the issue of “aborting the foetus” even after 50 years of debate, the challenges biotechnology is throwing are scary!!!

  27. SoulgainTM

    August 3, 2020 at 9:04 am

    What a smart and sweet lady. Can’t wait for bioengeneering to expand and grow, hopefully into something beautiful.

  28. Jerry Gao

    August 3, 2020 at 9:17 am

    *Jurassic Park theme plays*

  29. Haim Ben Avraham

    August 3, 2020 at 10:15 am

    They moved it, to just under my arm! Millions of years of the wisdom of evolutionary biology. And we think we can do better.

  30. Get In

    August 3, 2020 at 10:32 am

    no comment :/

  31. Sadman Fakir

    August 3, 2020 at 10:45 am

  32. Shachi Shrivastava

    August 3, 2020 at 11:06 am

    Is it just me or she looks like Emma Watson!!
    🤔???

  33. morgan elrod

    August 3, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    What happens is that your gender studies professor becomes a robot that dominates all things living.

  34. M T

    August 3, 2020 at 2:13 pm

    love your style!

  35. Shamut on EV’s

    August 3, 2020 at 2:53 pm

    Best TED T in months!!! 🙏🏻

  36. lynhwm

    August 3, 2020 at 3:10 pm

    Unfortunately, I have to disagree with the final conclusion of the talk. I think it is highly unlikely that the decisions regarding genetic engineering will be up to us… I have a fear that they will be made by a collection of small elite groups, far away from prying eyes. The only reservation I have against genetic engineering is one of motives: specifically profit. When corporate interests invest in biotechnology research, I worry about shortcuts, Dunning-Kruger and the Somebody-elses-problem effect. When the only real measure of success in profit and so many resultant costs are factored out of the profit calculation, I worry and doubt even the most sincere proponents of genetic engineering.

  37. James L

    August 3, 2020 at 3:14 pm

    I wish we could do this with people so as to have a qualitative way of identifying assholes.

  38. Abraham Samma

    August 3, 2020 at 3:37 pm

    I would like to see more talks on the fat tail risks that can be brought to the fore by these messy technologies. I feel the experts of this field don’t talk about it often enough.

  39. Sivananda Sai Chilukuri

    August 3, 2020 at 4:01 pm

    But.. What’s with that voice?

  40. Punished Luxibelle

    August 3, 2020 at 4:22 pm

    “Science and technology are human and therefore political”
    lololololol

  41. Faisal

    August 3, 2020 at 4:52 pm

    Nature is way smarter than us, we cannot outsmart nature , but if we can manipulate genes that would be cool but i doubt it’ll be easy

  42. Bravo Mike

    August 3, 2020 at 5:54 pm

    *”Technology makes the future but the humans make the technology. How we decide what that future will be?”*
    Gives me *Clanker* vs *Darwinist* vibes from Leviathan from Scott Westerfeld.

  43. Victor Eduardo

    August 3, 2020 at 7:45 pm

    i wonder when we’ll see Ted himself Talk instead of other people

  44. 정민경

    August 3, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    Do you want to meet a man whose ears are attached to his arm? Their body in the picture seem alien. They are not beautiful. Use genes adequatly.

  45. 峰永月

    August 3, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    How we decide what that future will be
    1945 “Nuke them” by US
    2019 “Covid them” by CCP

  46. Lasor

    August 3, 2020 at 10:31 pm

    I’m currently completing my masters in biomedical engineering towards the goal of working in neuroprosthetics, but I fully recognize that the step after that is fully synthesized limbs. We’re already 3D printing organs and skin, so we’ll no doubt one day be able to do the same for muscle mass and bone, and later on nerves. This would give us the building blocks for prosthetics limbs that are indiscernible from birth limbs. The future is very exciting for biological sciences!

  47. Anand Jadhav

    August 3, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    *They also make Corona but don’t know how to stop it now lol
    Nature slapped hard saying stop it now*

  48. Ras Jahman

    August 4, 2020 at 1:14 am

    Our flesh are one with plant biology.
    I dislike this perception.

  49. Ras Jahman

    August 4, 2020 at 1:19 am

    She completely ruled out the Homeostasis between plants and humans.

  50. Ras Jahman

    August 4, 2020 at 1:24 am

    If Biology became Technology I want to become psychoactive, physiological, psychological, pharma logical living organism. ” (OH DUH, FORGOT I ALREADY AM, SUPER NATURAL HUMAN.) “

  51. Ras Jahman

    August 4, 2020 at 1:29 am

    Is modern science operating in a post nuclear apocalyptic functioning society of living organisms with scientists erasing what they want at their discretion?

  52. TheInfamousTroll

    August 4, 2020 at 1:30 am

    Damn, I guess this is the mistake the Borg made.

  53. Ras Jahman

    August 4, 2020 at 1:36 am

    Everything is within the scope of reality. But there is only one truth.
    “Feed something else besides yourself,…become one with that, humbly and now you are a Creator.”

  54. Subhatman Das

    August 4, 2020 at 3:08 am

    These guys are extremely extreme in posting comments. GratuaTED in commentology 😂😂😂

  55. Jeffrey Dyrek

    August 4, 2020 at 3:31 am

    Genetic Engineering is total insanity. We only think that we know what we are doing, but we are messing with something that will react as if it had tricks up its sleeve. C. Jeff Dyrek

  56. Sinem Nursel Duzenci

    August 4, 2020 at 6:49 am

    Too many cheese books in the background.

  57. BLOOD

    August 4, 2020 at 7:17 am

    she look like emma watson

  58. Hama Aha

    August 4, 2020 at 8:06 am

  59. omitnot

    August 4, 2020 at 11:14 am

    Slick script

  60. L E

    August 4, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    im very shook that she just casually throws cursing in like… wow they let her do that.

  61. Chelsea ArTunez

    August 4, 2020 at 2:40 pm

    GO SCIENCE!!!!! 🧪🔬👩‍🔬👩‍🏫✌⚛

  62. Bruno Zanuzzo

    August 4, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    * Civil engineer: “software engineering isn’t real engineering”;
    * Software engineer: “genetic engineering isn’t real engineering”;
    * Scientist: “I reject the premises.”

  63. jcatrix

    August 4, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    As someone with a background in biology and a masters in computer science, I would love to have a conversation with you. I believe there is a lot of interception between these fields.

  64. DaBlondDude

    August 4, 2020 at 8:29 pm

    I always jokingly call old parmesan ‘foot cheese’ … I have been officially outdone

  65. Ravi Rajyaguru

    August 4, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    Her accent is a bit of a distraction when I am trying to focus on what she is actually saying on this rather brilliant topic.

  66. uriituw

    August 4, 2020 at 10:40 pm

    WTF am I looking at?

  67. Mark K.

    August 5, 2020 at 6:31 am

    I wonder if this corona virus can be genetically modified to make it harmless🤔

    • Sergey F.

      August 9, 2020 at 8:55 pm

      Surely it can be but how does it change all other trillions of trillions of copies living all around the world?… Survival of the fittest, remember? Works for the viruses even better than it does for us humans, because there are quadrillions of them with short life spans.

    • Mark K.

      August 10, 2020 at 6:22 am

      @Sergey F. ahhh

  68. sin8800

    August 5, 2020 at 11:39 am

    She looks like a character who’s in a flash back scene from a dystopian movie.

  69. fajar sawar

    August 5, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    I never thought of it in this way before!!!

  70. jms elt

    August 5, 2020 at 8:51 pm

    Blowing minds

  71. Touqeer mosTofa

    August 6, 2020 at 12:48 am

    Am I the only one who thought it was Emma Watson?

  72. Nick Carpet Cleaning

    August 7, 2020 at 1:22 am

    When human talk about biology,Coronavirus smiling without a word

  73. Sai Balaji Education Center

    August 7, 2020 at 3:37 pm

    👍

  74. Vyacheslav Ushakov

    August 8, 2020 at 6:47 am

    Искусственный интеллект или искусство интеллекта. Вячеслав Ушаков @

  75. Serene

    August 8, 2020 at 3:13 pm

    She’s hot

  76. Ludwig Hurtado

    August 8, 2020 at 10:33 pm

    Love your material ! Thanks for sharing and keep moving forward with your work. We need more people like you in this world! God Bless You…

  77. Jonathan Galindo

    August 9, 2020 at 2:32 am

    Some times i don’t know why people subcribe to TED?

  78. Lyn Pip

    August 9, 2020 at 4:32 am

    Copycating the laws of nature. As bio warfare is developed. She’s good at trying to convince for the good of humanity but that depends on those using it to create and cause harm

  79. Navateja R V

    August 9, 2020 at 2:56 pm

    Biology is my favorite subject

  80. 홍희영

    August 10, 2020 at 1:37 am

    Awesome

  81. 홍희영

    August 10, 2020 at 1:38 am

    “Awesome”

  82. grimble

    August 10, 2020 at 4:54 pm

    Hopefully, technology is now and not the future. I can see people becoming tired of it and abandoning it, maybe not totally, but there will come a time in a not so distant future where the people as the size of a culture will realize that technology did not make the world a better place. It made it worse. People all over the wolrd are living and painfully experiencing that now, how sick and twisted science can be.

  83. Jackie Grant

    August 11, 2020 at 7:49 am

    Great eye opening commentary and examples that made sense to a non scientific human 💪🏾😀👍🏽

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