Name: 【TED】胡安-恩裡克斯：基因奇蹟的時代(基因奇蹟的時代|胡安-恩裡克斯) (【TED】Juan Enriquez: The age of genetic wonder (The age of genetic wonder | Juan Enriquez))
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T08:06:11.000Z
Duration: 18 min 6 s

譯者: Melody Tang 審譯者: 易帆 余

Roy's argument is that most new technologies tend to be overestimated

羅伊的論點是，大多數的新技術

and then they get underestimated in the long term

一開始的影響力往往被高估了，

之後，時間久了， 它們的影響力就會被低估，

These really are days of miracle and wonder.

You remember that wonderful song by Paul Simon?

「這真是充滿奇蹟和驚奇的日子。」

各位還記得保羅·賽門的 這首好歌嗎？

So what was it that was considered miraculous back then?

所以，在那個年代， 哪些事情會被視為是奇蹟呢？

讓事物慢下來的——慢動作——

Because, of course, you used to get interrupted by operators

who'd tell you, "Long distance calling. Do you want to hang up?"

沒錯，因為過去的你 經常被接線生打斷，

And now we think nothing of calling all over the world.

他會告訴你：「長途電話喔， 您要先掛斷嗎？」

如今，與世界各地通話 我們已經習以為常。

是的，也許類似的事情也正發生在

Telescopes were overestimated originally in their impact.

望遠鏡的影響力一開始被高估了。

People thought it was just going to ruin all religion.

So we're not paying that much attention to telescopes.

But, of course, telescopes launched 10 years ago, as you just heard,

現在我們沒怎麼注意望遠鏡了。

could take this Volkswagen, fly it to the moon,

不過，就如各位前幾天聽到的 十年前升空的（克卜勒）太空望遠鏡，

and you could see the lights on that Volkswagen light up on the moon.

如果我們把這輛福斯汽車送到月球上，

And that's the kind of resolution power that allowed you to see

你可透過那望遠鏡 看到福斯汽車車燈亮著。

little specks of dust floating around distant suns.

Imagine for a second that this was a sun a billion light years away,

漂浮在遙遠太陽周邊的小黑點。

and you had a little speck of dust that came in front of it.

想像這是十億光年外的一顆恆星，

That's what detecting an exoplanet is like.

你可看到它前方的一個小塵埃。

And the cool thing is, the telescopes that are now being launched

would allow you to see a single candle lit on the moon.

可以讓你看到在月球上 一根點著的蠟燭。

you could see two candles separately at that distance.

如果你放一個盤子在兩根蠟燭之間，

And that's the kind of resolution that you need

你可以從這麼遠的距離 分別看到兩根蠟燭。

to begin to image that little speck of dust

and see if it has a blue-green signature.

And if it does have a blue-green signature,

it means that life is common in the universe.

The first time you ever see a blue-green signature on a distant planet,

就意味著，生命在宇宙中是普遍存在的。

你第一次在遠方的星球上 看到藍綠色的顏色，

and the chances that you saw the only other planet with photosynthesis

除了地球外，你能在其它星球上 看到光合作用的可能性

There's a before and after we were alone in the universe:

forget about the discovery of whatever continent.

區分「宇宙中是否獨存人類」的前後，

we're now beginning to be able to image most of the universe.

And that is a time of miracle and wonder.

我們現在已經可以 把大部分的宇宙成像出來。

So we're hearing about life in these little bits and pieces.

類似的狀況也正發生在生命領域裡。

We hear about CRISPR, and we hear about this technology,

我們零零碎碎地聽到 關於生命的資訊。

我們聽說過 CRISPR 技術， 我們聽到這種技術，

But the bottom line on life is that life turns out to be code.

And life as code is a really important concept because it means,

但生命的本質基本上就是編碼。

just in the same way as you can write a sentence

用編碼來看生命是個非常 重要的概念，因為它的意義

就像是你能夠寫出一段句子一樣，

just in the same way as you can copy a sentence,

just in the same way as you can edit a sentence,

就如同你可以複製一個句子一樣，

just in the same way as you can print a sentence,

就像你可以編輯一個句子一樣，

you're beginning to be able to do that with life.

就像你可以列印一個句子一樣，

It means that we're beginning to learn how to read this language.

你也開始可以對生命做同樣的事。

And this, of course, is the language that is used by this orange.

那就意味著，我們要開始學習 如何閱讀這種語言。

當然，這也是這顆柳橙的語言。

It doesn't do it in ones and zeroes like a computer does.

所以，這顆柳橙如何執行程式？

它不能像電腦用 0 和 1 來執行。

GAC: make me some leaves. AGC: make me some flowers.

And then GCAA: make me some more oranges.

If I edit a sentence in English on a word processor,

然後 GCAA 長出更多的柳橙果實。

then what happens is you can go from this word to that word.

如果我用文字處理軟體 來編輯一段英文句子，

and put in GCAAC, using CRISPR or something else that you've heard of,

如果我在這顆柳橙裡動些手腳，

用 CRISPR 或其它 你聽過的工具把 GCAAC 放入，

you become the person sitting next to you today.

如果我編輯一千個字母中的一個，

你就會變成你身旁坐的那個人。

What's happening on this stuff is it was really expensive to begin with.

事情是這樣的， 通常新的技術在一開始非常昂貴。

But the cost of this is dropping 50 percent faster than Moore's law.

The first $200 full genome was announced yesterday by Veritas.

但它的成本降低的速度 比摩爾定律還要快 50%。

And so as you're looking at these systems,

昨天 Veritas 公司首推 200 美元的完整基因組定序服務。

it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, and then it does.

So let me just give you the map view of this stuff.

它無所謂，它無所謂， 它無所謂，接著，它有所謂了。

讓我用地圖的方式呈現給各位看。

Let's now start using a telescope version, but instead of using a telescope,

我們現在開始從望遠鏡的視角， 但不是使用望遠鏡，