We can reprogram life. How to do it wisely | Juan Enriquez

翻译人员: Gu Yu 校对人员: Oisín Zhao

So, there's an actor called Dustin Hoffman.

有一位演员叫做达斯汀·霍夫曼。

And years ago, he made this movie which some of you may have heard of,

几十年前， 他拍了一部电影，你们可能听说过

called "The Graduate."

叫做《毕业生》。

And there's two key scenes in that movie.

电影中有两个关键的场景。

The first one is the seduction scene.

一个是勾引的画面。

I'm not going to talk about that tonight.

但是这不是我今晚的主题，

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The second scene is where he's taken out by the old guy to the pool,

在第二个场景中， 他被一位长者带到游泳场边

and as a young college graduate, the old guy basically says one word,

作为一位毕业生， 长者只对他说了一个词，

just one word.

仅仅一个词。

And of course, all of you know what that word is.

当然，你们都知道那个词

It's "plastics."

就是“塑料”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And the only problem with that is, it was completely the wrong advice.

但现在问题是， 他给出的建议完全错了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Let me tell you why it was so wrong.

让我来给你们讲讲为什么错了。

The word should have been "silicon."

因为这个词应该是“硅”。

And the reason it should have been silicon

为什么说应该是硅呢？

is because the basic patents for semiconductors had already been made,

因为那时半导体的专利

had already been filed,

已经得以注册，

and they were already building them.

人们已经建立了半导体产业城。

So Silicon Valley was just being built in 1967,

所以硅谷就是在1967年建立的，

when this movie was released.

正好是这部电影发行的那一年。

And the year after the movie was released,

在电影发行的第二年

Intel was founded.

因特尔公司成立了。

So had the graduate heard the right one word,

所以说如果这位毕业生 听到了正确的答案，

maybe he would have ended up onstage -- oh, I don't know --

或许他就会和这两位一样

maybe with these two.

出现在台上。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So as you're thinking of that,

那么，想想看

let's see what bit of advice we might want to give

我们现在会给出什么建议，

so that your next graduate doesn't become a Tupperware salesman.

不要让我们的毕业生 最后沦落为特百惠的销售员。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So in 2015, what word of advice would you give people,

在2015年， 当你把一位毕业生带到游泳池边

when you took a college graduate out by the pool

你会说什么词呢，只说一个词，

and you said one word, just one word?

你给人们的建议会是什么词呢？

I think the answer would be "lifecode."

我想这个答案应该是“生命密码”。

So what is "lifecode?"

到底什么是“生命密码”呢？

Lifecode is the various ways we have of programming life.

生命密码是我们 为生命编程的各种各样的方式。

So instead of programming computers,

也就说我们并非在电脑上编程，

we're using things to program viruses

而是运用工具来编译病毒

or retroviruses or proteins

逆转录病毒、蛋白质

or DNA or RNA

DNA、RNA

or plants or animals, or a whole series of creatures.

动植物以及一系列的生物。

And as you're thinking about this incredible ability

如各位所想，这项惊人的能力

to make life do what you want it to do,

可以让生命按照程序编写的一样

what it's programmed to do,

做你想让它做的事

what you end up doing

得到你想得到的结果。

is taking what we've been doing for thousands of years,

那些已经进行了上千年的事情：

which is breeding, changing,

各种生命形式的

mixing, matching

繁殖、改变

all kinds of life-forms,

杂交、匹配

and we accelerate it.

我们加速了这一过程。

And this is not something new.

这并不是一件新鲜事

This humble mustard weed has been modified

这株芥菜经过了基因修饰，

so that if you change it in one way, you get broccoli.

如果你以某种方式进行改变， 它就变成了西兰花。

And if you change it in a second way, you get kale.

如果你换一种方式， 它就变成了甘蓝。

And if you change it in a third way,

如果用第三种方式，

you get cauliflower.

得到的就是花椰菜。

So when you go to these all-natural, organic markets,

所以当你去纯天然的有机菜场时，

you're really going to a place

你所看到的蔬菜

where people have been changing the lifecode of plants for a long time.

的生命密码在很久以前就被改变了。

The difference today,

如今所不同的

to pick a completely politically neutral term --

只是挑一个政治立场上完全中性的词 来形容它。

[Intelligent design]

[智能设计]

(Laughter)

（笑声）

We're beginning to practice intelligent design.

我们正在进行智能设计的实践

That means that instead of doing this at random

这意味着我们不能随意地进行试验

and seeing what happens over generations,

然后看看几代后会发生什么。

we're inserting specific genes, we're inserting specific proteins,

我们需要插入 特定的基因和特定的蛋白质，

and we're changing lifecode for very deliberate purposes.

然后根据我们的目的修改生命密码，

And that allows us to accelerate how this stuff happens.

从而加速试验的结果。

Let me just give you one example.

让我举个例子。

Some of you occasionally might think about sex.

你们当中可能有人会偶尔产生性欲。

And we kind of take it for granted how we've changed sex.

我们已经对性爱的改变习以为常。

So we think it's perfectly normal and natural to change it.

所以我们认为 这种改变非常正常和自然。

What's happened with sex over time is --

过去，性爱的发生

normally, sex equals baby, eventually.

通常来讲，最后就意味着孩子。

But in today's world,

但是，在今天的社会，

sex plus pill equals no baby.

性+药=没有孩子

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And again, we think that's perfectly normal and natural,

再次强调 我们认为这是很自然很正常的

but that has not been the case for most of human history.

但在人类历史中 几乎没有这样的例子发生，

And it's not the case for animals.

动物身上也没有。

What it is does is it gives us control,

这样的改变让我们摆脱了束缚

so sex becomes separate from conception.

因此性和怀孕不再有必然联系。

And as you're thinking of the consequences of that,

你可以想象到这样的结果

then we've been playing with stuff

接着我们开始使用一些技术

that's a little bit more advanced, like art.

一些先进的技术，比如“艺术”。

Not in the sense of painting and sculpture,

不是在绘画和雕塑意义上的艺术，

but in the sense of assisted reproductive technologies.

是指辅助生殖技术。

So what are assisted reproductive technologies?

什么是辅助生殖技术呢？

Assisted reproductive technologies are things like in vitro fertilization.

这是一种类似体外受精的技术。

And when you do in vitro fertilization, there's very good reasons to do it.

有时可能有人无法怀孕

Sometimes you just can't conceive otherwise.

那么选择体外受精 无疑是一个好选择。

But when you do that,

但是通过体外受精

what you’re doing is separating sex, conception, baby.

性、怀孕和孩子就完全分离开来。

So you haven't just taken control of when you have a baby,

所以你不仅可以决定生孩子的时间，

you've separated when the baby and where the baby is fertilized.

还可以将 受精的时间和地点分离开来。

So you've separated the baby

所以你可以把孩子和

from the body from the act.

身体和性爱都分开。

And as you're thinking of other things we've been doing,

再举个例子，

think about twins.

比如双胞胎。

So you can freeze sperm, you can freeze eggs,

你可以冻结精子，可以冻结卵子

you can freeze fertilized eggs.

你也可以冻结受精卵。

And what does that mean?

这意味着什么呢？

Well, that's a good thing if you're a cancer patient.

如果你是一位癌症患者， 这绝对是一件好事。

You're about to go under chemotherapy or under radiation,

你即将要接受化疗和放疗，

so you save these things.

所以你需要保存生殖细胞或受精卵

You don't irradiate them.

这样它们就可以免遭辐射。

But if you can save them and you can freeze them,

但是，如果你可以 保存它们，冻结它们，

and you can have a surrogate mother,

甚至可以找一位代孕母亲，

it means that you've decoupled sex from time.

这就意味着 你可以使性脱离时间的束缚。

It means you can have twins born -- oh, in 50 years?

也就是说你可以生下 一对相差50岁的双胞胎？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

In a hundred years?

或许相差100年？

Two hundred years?

200年？

And these are three really profound changes

这些影响深远的改变

that are not, like, future stuff.

这并不是将来的东西，

This is stuff we take for granted today.

这是我们今天认为理所当然的事情。

So this lifecode stuff turns out to be a superpower.

因此生命密码蕴含强大的力量。

It turns out to be this incredibly powerful way of changing viruses,

它以一种难以置信地方式改变病毒，

of changing plants, of changing animals,

改变植物，改变动物，

perhaps even of evolving ourselves.

甚至可以让我们自己进化。

It's something that Steve Gullans and I have been thinking about for a while.

史蒂夫·加兰和我 对于生命密码有过一些思考。

Let's have some risks.

我们先说一些危险的情况。

Like every powerful technology, like electricity, like an automobile,

就像所有有力的科技一样， 比如电力、汽车

like computers, this stuff potentially can be misused.

还有电脑， 生命密码也可能会被用于歧途。

And that scares a lot of people.

这吓坏了很多人。

And as you apply these technologies,

当你在使用这些科技时

you can even turn human beings into chimeras.

你甚至可以把人变成怪物。

Remember the Greek myth where you mix animals?

大家记得希腊神话中 动物互相交配么？

Well, some of these treatments

有一些治疗的结果

actually end up changing your blood type.

甚至会让你改变血型

Or they'll put male cells in a female body or vice versa,

或者他们会把男性细胞 和女性细胞放入对方体内，

which sounds absolutely horrible

听起来无比可怕。

until you realize, the reason you're doing that

其实你发现这就是

is you're substituting bone marrow during cancer treatments.

你在癌症治疗过程中 替换骨髓的过程。

So by taking somebody else's bone marrow,

从别人身体上得到的骨髓

you may be changing some fundamental aspects of yourself,

也许会改变你自己的基本情况，

but you're also saving your life.

但同时也救了你的命。

And as you're thinking about this stuff,

如果你仔细想想，

here's something that happened 20 years ago.

这个技术已经存在20年了。

This is Emma Ott.

这是艾玛·奥特。

She's a recent college admittee.

她是个在校大学生。

She's studying accounting.

她主修会计。

She played two varsity sports. She graduated as a valedictorian.

她是两种体育的校队成员 还作为学生代表进行了毕业演讲。

And that's not particularly extraordinary,

这都没有什么特别的，

except that she's the first human being born to three parents.

但是她是第一个三亲家庭的孩子。

Why?

为什么？

Because she had a deadly mitochondrial disease

因为她很可能通过遗传 得了一种

that she might have inherited.

线粒体疾病。

So when you swap out a third person's DNA

当你把第三个人的DNA

and you put it in there,

植入这些人的体内，

you save the lives of people.

他们就可以活下来。

But you also are doing germline engineering,

同时使用生殖工程学的技术，

which means her kids, if she has kids, will be saved

如果她有孩子，她的孩子也将

and won't go through this.

永远免于这种疾病的侵害。

And [their] kids will be saved,

她的后代，

and their grandchildren will be saved,

和她的后代的后代

and this passes on.

都会被挽救。

That makes people nervous.

这让人们紧张。

So 20 years ago, the various authorities said,

所以20年前， 很多专家表示

why don't we study this for a while?

为什么我们不先研究一下 再推广这些技术呢？

There are risks to doing stuff, and there are risks to not doing stuff,

使用这些技术是有风险的 但是不用这些技术问题就会继续，

because there were a couple dozen people saved by this technology,

我们已经使用这些救了很多人。

and then we've been thinking about it for the next 20 years.

我们已经思考了20年。

So as we think about it,

这期间我们不停地说：

as we take the time to say, "Hey, maybe we should have longer studies,

“也许我们需要更长时间的研究”，

maybe we should do this, maybe we should do that,"

“也许我们要做这个 也许要做那个”，

there are consequences to acting, and there are consequences to not acting.

凡事都是有两面性的。 用科技治愈致命的疾病也不例外。

Like curing deadly diseases --

治愈致命的疾病

which, by the way, is completely unnatural.

其实是非常反常的。

It is normal and natural for humans to be felled

如果人类死于大量的传染病

by massive epidemics of polio, of smallpox, of tuberculosis.

比如脊髓灰质炎，天花，肺结核， 那是非常正常的。

When we put vaccines into people, we are putting unnatural things

在人体体内疫苗就是一件

into their body

很不正常的事，

because we think the benefit outweighs the risk.

但是我们认为利大于弊。

Because we've built unnatural plants, unnatural animals,

因为我们培养了特殊的植株 特殊的动物，

we can feed about seven billion people.

我们才可以养育这70亿人。

We can do things like create new life-forms.

我们可以创造新的生物

And as you create new life-forms, again, that sounds terribly scary

乍一听创造新生物实在太恐怖

and terribly bothersome,

太可怕，

until you realize that those life-forms live on your dining room table.

其实你在餐厅的桌子上 就可以看到那些新生物。

Those flowers you've got on your dining room table --

餐厅桌子上买回来的鲜花

there's not a lot that's natural about them,

和自然完全沾不上边，

because people have been breeding the flowers to make this color,

因为人类一直在选育固定的颜色

to be this size, to last for a week.

固定的尺寸， 以及强大的生存能力。

You don't usually give your loved one wildflowers

你通常不会放野花在这

because they don't last a whole lot of time.

因为它们活不了多久。

What all this does

这一切的一切

is it flips Darwin completely on his head.

都完全颠覆了达尔文的理论。

See, for four billion years,

40亿年前，

what lived and died on this planet depended on two principles:

地球上生物能否生存 取决于两个原则：

on natural selection and random mutation.

自然选择和基因突变。

And so what lived and died, what was structured,

而这两个原则

has now been flipped on its head.

现在已经被完全颠覆了。

And what we've done

我们正在

is created this completely parallel evolutionary system

创造一个完全并行的进化系统

where we are practicing unnatural selection and non-random mutation.

这个系统里我们尝试着 非自然选择和定向变异。

So let me explain these things.

让我来解释一下：

This is natural selection.

这是自然选择。

This is unnatural selection.

这是非自然选择。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So what happens with this stuff is,

狗这个物种实际上

we started breeding wolves thousands of years ago

是几千年前的中亚人通过驯养狼

in central Asia to turn them into dogs.

得到的物种。

And then we started turning them into big dogs

然后我们开始把狗培育成大狗

and into little dogs.

或者小狗。

But if you take one of the chihuahuas

但是如果你带着一只第五大街上的

you see in the Hermès bags on Fifth Avenue

某个爱马仕包里的吉娃娃

and you let it loose on the African plain,

去非洲平原放生

you can watch natural selection happen.

你就可以看到自然选择的发生。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Few things on Earth are less natural than a cornfield.

地球上没有比玉米地更不自然的了。

You will never, under any scenario, walk through a virgin forest

如果你进入原始森林 你永远不可能看到

and see the same plant growing in orderly rows

同一种植株 在同一时刻

at the same time,

整齐的排列，

nothing else living there.

什么别的植物都没有。

When you do a cornfield,

你在种植玉米的时候，

you're selecting what lives and what dies.

你决定了什么生什么死。

And you're doing that through unnatural selection.

你在进行非自然选择。

It's the same with a wheat field, it's the same with a rice field.

麦田也一样，稻田也一样，

It's the same with a city, it's the same with a suburb.

城市也一样，郊区也一样。

In fact, half the surface of Earth

事实地球上一半的地区

has been unnaturally engineered

都是人工控制的结果

so that what lives and what dies there is what we want,

这些地区我们决定物种的生死。

which is the reason why you don't have grizzly bears

所以你不可能在曼哈顿的街区

walking through downtown Manhattan.

看到灰熊走来走去。

How about this random mutation stuff?

基因突变是什么呢？

Well, this is random mutation.

这就是基因突变。

This is Antonio Alfonseca.

这是安东尼奥·艾方塞卡，

He's otherwise known as the Octopus, his nickname.

他还有一个外号叫做章鱼

He was the Relief Pitcher of the Year in 2000.

他是2000年的最佳替补投手。

And he had a random mutation that gave him six fingers

基因突变让他每只手都拥有

on each hand,

六根手指。

which turns out to be really useful if you're a pitcher.

这对他投球帮助很大。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

How about non-random mutation?

那什么是非随机突变呢？

A non-random mutation is beer.

啤酒，葡萄酒，酸奶

It's wine. It's yogurt.

都是非随机突变。

How many times have you walked through the forest

你在森林里走的时候

and found all-natural cheese?

看见一块纯天然的奶酪的几率有多大呢

Or all-natural yogurt?

纯天然酸奶呢？

So we've been engineering this stuff.

这些都是非随机突变的结果。

Now, the interesting thing is,

有趣的是，

we get to know the stuff better.

现在我们对于突变了解的更多了。

We found one of the single most powerful gene-editing instruments,

我们在酸奶中发现了 基因编辑的有力武器

CRISPR, inside yogurt.

CRISPR。

And as we start engineering cells,

我们开始控制细胞

we're producing eight out of the top 10 pharmaceutical products,

利用这个工具制造 十种最常用药物中的八种

including the stuff that you use to treat arthritis,

包括治疗关节炎的

which is the number one best-selling drug, Humira.

特效药，修美乐。

So this lifecode stuff.

生命密码就是这些东西。

It really is a superpower.

它真的超级强大。

It really is a way of programming stuff,

真的就像在编码生物一样，

and there's nothing that's going to change us

再也不会有比生命密码对于人类的改变

more than this lifecode.

更大的改变了。

So as you're thinking of lifecode,

所以在思考生命密码的时候，

let's think of five principles

在开始准备使用它的时候，

as to how we start guiding,

我们要遵守五个原则。

and I'd love you to give me more.

我希望各位可以给我更多启发。

So, principle number one:

原则一：

we have to take responsibility for this stuff.

我们要承担对生命密码的责任。

The reason we have to take responsibility

之所以我们要肩负起责任

is because we're in charge.

是因为我们是使用者。

These aren't random mutations.

这不是随机的突变。

This is what we are doing, what we are choosing.

这是我们的选择，我们的工作

It's not, "Stuff happened."

这不是“事情就这样发生了”

It didn't happen at random.

这既不是随机发生的。

It didn't come down by a verdict of somebody else.

也不会随着 别人的决定而消失。

We engineer this stuff,

我们制造了它，

and it's the Pottery Barn rule: you break it, you own it.

根据珀特里·巴恩的原则： 你破坏了规则，你就要对它负责。

Principle number two:

原则二：

we have to recognize and celebrate diversity in this stuff.

我们必须明白并且 鼓励物种的多样性。

There have been at least 33 versions of hominids

曾经至少有33种原始人

that have walked around this Earth.

存在于这个世界上。

Most all of them went extinct except us.

除了我们之外绝大多数已经灭绝。

But the normal and natural state of this Earth

但是正常情况下的地球

is we have various versions of humans walking around at the same time,

应该有不同种的人类同时存在

which is why most of us have some Neanderthal in us.

这也是为什么很多人有尼安德特人

Some of us have some Denisova in us.

和丹尼索瓦人的特征。

And some in Washington have a lot more of it.

一些华盛顿的政客好像 有更多类似的特征。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Principle number three:

原则三：

we have to respect other people's choices.

尊重他人的选择。

Some people will choose to never alter.

有人选择不改变，

Some people will choose to alter all.

有人选择改变，

Some people will choose to alter plants but not animals.

有人选择改变植物 但是不改变动物，

Some people will choose to alter themselves.

有人选择改变自己。

Some people will choose to evolve themselves.

有人选择进化自己。

Diversity is not a bad thing,

多样性是好的，

because even though we think of humans as very diverse,

尽管我们认为 人类多样性已经很丰富了，

we came so close to extinction

但是因为我们来自 同一位非洲母亲的基因，

that all of us descend from a single African mother

我们也有灭绝的危险。

and the consequence of that

而且它的后果是，

is there's more genetic diversity in 55 African chimpanzees

55只非洲黑猩猩的基因的多样性

than there are in seven billion humans.

都比70亿人类丰富得多。

Principle number four:

原则四：

we should take about a quarter of the Earth

我们应该让四分之一的世界

and only let Darwin run the show there.

遵循达尔文的原则。

It doesn't have to be contiguous,

这四分之一的世界不用连在一起，

doesn't have to all be tied together.

也不用被绑定在一起看待。

It should be part in the oceans, part on land.

但是要有部分的海洋和部分的陆地。

But we should not run every evolutionary decision on this planet.

我们不应该决定 地球上每一个物种的进化。

We want to have our evolutionary system running.

我们需要我们的进化系统的运行。

We want to have Darwin's evolutionary system running.

我们也需要达尔文进化系统的运行。

And it's just really important to have these two things running in parallel

我们需要两个系统并行

and not overwhelm evolution.

而不是压倒性的人工进化。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Last thing I'll say.

最后我想说，

This is the single most exciting adventure human beings have been on.

这是人类有史以来 最激动人心的冒险。

This is the single greatest superpower humans have ever had.

这是人类拥有过的最大的力量。

It would be a crime for you not to participate in this stuff

如果因为你害怕 因为你想逃避

because you're scared of it,

从而错过了参与进来的机会，

because you're hiding from it.

这将是令你遗憾终生的事。

You can participate in the ethics. You can participate in the politics.

你可以从伦理的角度参与进来 你可以从政治的角度参与进来

You can participate in the business.

你可以从商业的角度参与进来

You can participate in just thinking about where medicine is going,

你可以仅仅通过思考 制药业和工业的未来

where industry is going,

通过思考我们和世界如何共处

where we're going to take the world.

而参与进来。

It would be a crime for all of us

如果有人出现在游泳池

not to be aware when somebody shows up at a swimming pool

告诉我们了一个词，仅仅一个词 如果那个词是“生命密码”

and says one word, just one word,

如果我们没有听，没有注意

if you don't listen if that word is "lifecode."

那么这将是全人类的遗憾。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）