The Daily Planet #124: The Anatomical Compiler

Michael Levin is an interesting thinker; a rare Platonist in Biology. This quote from a recent post of his makes me think of biological engineering, but not the kind where we force organisms to do our willing, but rather work with their agential capacity to produce forms that we need:

Anatomical compiler - a future system representing the long-term endgame of the science of morphogenesis, that reminds us how far away from true understanding we are and serves as a compass for where we are going. Someday, we will be able to sit in front of this combination of software and robot scientist platform, specify the shape of an animal, plant, organ, or biobot that we want, and it will convert that shape specification into a set of stimuli that will be given to cells to get them to build exactly that shape (no matter how novel - total control over growth and form). Critically, the anatomical compiler is not a 3D printer; instead of micromanaging the structure of the target construct, it exploits the agential medium of cells with competencies. It is in effect a communications device for translating goals between the user’s brain and that of the collective intelligence of other cells (transferring our preferred anatomical outcome into navigation policies by which the cellular collective will traverse anatomical space). And, it is not simply a passive interface but is itself an agent exploring the space of possible form and function.

From:

Glossary: new terms in an emerging field