I learned about this short nonfiction book, Higher Animals: Vaccines, Synthetic Biology, and the Future of Life, as the result of listening to a podcast by Malcolm Gladwell on the last episode of the eighth season of “Revisionist History.” In the podcast, Gladwell interviewed the author, Michael Specter. The two men have been friends for a very long time. Personally, as a physician who has spent my lifetime deep in the world of science while trying to discern what might bring help to my patients, this discussion by Gladwell and Specter caused me to immediately download Specter’s book and jump it to the head of my reading queue. I was not disappointed at having done so.
Specter explained how the MRNA vaccines have helped spark a biotechnology revolution. Biology can now be thought about in the way we think of computer code, but instead of thinking in bits and bytes, we think in terms of genetic letters. That is information that can be shared, with good and bad consequences, on the internet. He defined synthetic biology as being “a field in which scientists seek to combine elements of engineering, chemistry, computer science, and molecular biology.” This new field has a vast positive potential for the earth and human life.
Specter also recognizes that as has previously been the case with new technologies, there are people who are reluctant to accept these advances. At the same time of potential benefits, it is also easier for people of ill intent to cause great harm. For example, there are now thousands of people in the world who have the sophistication to design new viruses on the smart phones. The author asks, just as has been asked in the past with other new technology breakthroughs, will we be smart enough to choose which technologies to pursue and which to ban?
Higher Animals successfully presents complex scientific issues in straightforward and understandable language. In audiobook format, it’s only a four-hour listen. I’m impressed – it gets my strongest recommendation.
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