Possible futures from the intersection of nature, tech and society | Natsai Audrey Chieza

Transcriber:

翻译人员: Robert Cheney 校对人员: Yan Li Xiao

1998 年，我和我的朋友 在一个国家艺术比赛中胜出了。

比赛的奖品是去巴黎的 迪士尼乐园游玩一周。

和从世界各地来的几百个孩子们一起，

In 1998, my friends and I won a national art competition.

作为联合国教科文组织 国际儿童峰会的代表。

The prize was a week in Disneyland Paris,

这不是一次普通的迪士尼之旅。

with hundreds of other children from across the world,

在到处乱跑和交朋友之间，

as delegates to UNESCO's International Children's Summit.

我们设计着这个星球的未来。

我们该怎么解决污染问题

Now this was no ordinary trip to Disneyland.

和他们对人类和环境的威胁呢？

Between running riot in the park and making friends,

we workshopped the future of this planet.

我们如何保证普罗大众

平等，正义，尊严的人权呢？

How could we overcome the problems of pollution

在峰会结束时，

and their threats to human and environmental health?

我们创建了一个长达二十年的胶囊，

How could we guarantee universal human rights

里面有各个国家对未来的美好幻想。

of equality, justice and dignity?

但是当我今天环顾四周时，

Towards the end of the summit,

很明显，我们的目标并没有达成。

we created a 20-year time capsule,

我们面临着同样的危机，

with each country planting a vision of the future they hoped for.

数十年的地缘政治不作为 使情况变的更加糟糕。

But as I look around today,

it's clear to me that those visions have not come true yet.

作为气候紧急情况的结果， 我们正在面对全球生存风险，

We're confronted by the same crises,

made infinitely worse through decades of geopolitical inaction.

尽管这世界上资源最少， 和被剥夺最多权力的人

We now face global existential risks as a result of the climate emergency,

变得更加的脆弱， 尽管对问题的贡献最小。

那次去迪士尼乐园的旅程

with the world's least-resourced and most disenfranchised

教会了我美术和设计

made more vulnerable despite having contributed least to the problem.

有能力去想象另外的未来。

问题是：“我们怎么去做呢？”

That trip to Disneyland

taught me that art and design had the power to imagine

今天，我领导着一个设计小组， 叫法伯未来 （Faber Futures），

other possible futures.

我和我的组员们正在设计

The question is: "How do we actually build them?"

生物、科技和社会的交集。

Today, I lead a design agency called Faber Futures,

通过调查研究，深入推进，

合作和其他方法，

and my team and I design at the intersection of biology,

我们模拟了一个未来 在那里人类和星球都可以繁荣，

technology and society.

Through research and development collaborations,

以及生物技术所扮演的角色 是通过多元愿景塑造的。

partnerships, and other strategies,

we model a future in which both people and planet can thrive

我们设计的是未来的原型。

我们研发了无毒、 节约水的.纺织染料工艺，

and where the role that biotechnology plays is shaped through plural visions.

其中包含了一种生产颜料的细菌，

Our design work prototypes the future.

开创了纺织和时尚行业

We have developed toxin-free, water-efficient textile dye processes

业内循环设计的新思维方式。

with a pigment-producing bacterium,

你可能已经听说过数据监控了，

pioneering new ways of thinking about circular design

但如果它是生物学的呢？

使用人类微生物的开源数据，

for the textile and fashion industries.

You've probably already heard of data surveillance,

我们创造了与挖掘伦理相关的 实验艺术品。

but what if it was biological?

Using open-source data on the human microbiome,

我们如何才能在生物技术行业内

we’ve created experiential artworks that engage with the ethics of DNA mining.

嵌入多学科协同设计的文化呢？

为了找到答案， 我们设计了银杏创意基地，

How can we embed a culture of multidisciplinary codesign

并邀请富有创造力的从业者

from within the industry of biotechnology?

在银杏生物工程公司的生物工厂里

To find out, we designed the Ginkgo Creative Residency,

花上几个月去开发自己的项目。

我们还会发起独特且广泛的对话，

which invites creative practitioners

to spend several months developing their own projects

并发表拥有多种多样的知识 的人之间的对话内容—

from within the Ginkgo Bioworks foundry.

非洲未来主义者 和天体生物学家对话，

We also generate and publish unique and expansive dialogues

食品科学家和土著活动家对话。

between people with different types of knowledges --

他们还有其他人所讲述的故事，

Afrofuturists with astrobiologists,

让我们能够畅想生物 未来更多的可能性。

food researchers with Indigenous campaigners.

设计深深地渗透进了我们所有人的生活，

The stories that they and others tell

但我们还是倾向于认识事物本身

give us the tools we need to imagine other biological futures.

而非创造事物的复杂系统。

我的团队和我探究这些系统，

Design deeply permeates all of our lives,

把不同领域联系起来， 比如文化和技术，

and yet we tend to recognize things

and not the complex systems that actually produce them.

生态学和经济学。

我们找到问题所在， 以及能创造价值和价值观念的地方。

My team and I explore these systems,

connecting fields like culture and technology,

做出一份设计简介，作为介绍手册，

ecology and economics.

We identify problems, and where value and values can be created.

反映出问题的内容，

这样我们或许能找到解决办法了。

要做到这一步， 我们或许要建立新的网络系统，

We like to think about a design brief as an instruction manual,

创设新工具，甚至基础设施。

mapping the context of the problem,

and where we might find solutions.

各个部分如何交互运作

Getting there might involve establishing new networks,

能决定研究与发展， 材料处理的原则，

building new tools, and even infrastructure.

制造与分配。

How all of these pieces interact with one another

最终受益者以及环境成本。

can determine research and development, material specification,

所以你可以想象得到， 这种系统或许能够促进

manufacturing and distribution.

智能手机的设计，甚至是共乘服务。

Who ultimately benefits, and at what environmental cost.

当提到生物学意义上的设计的时候，

So you can start to imagine the kinds of systems that might drive

问题可能会变得有点抽象。

the design of your smartphone or even a rideshare service.

生物工程师利用微生物 在工业上做有益的东西，

But when it comes to the design of biology,

像是生物修复有毒废物堆积场，

things become a little bit more abstract.

或者用可再生原料取代 以石油为原料的织物。

Organism engineers design microbes to do industrially useful things,

要大规模达成这种 水平的生物学精度和表现效果，

like bioremediate toxic waste sites

or replace petroleum-based textiles with renewable ones.

像基因测序，自动化 和机器学习这样的技术是必要的。

To architect this level of biological precision and performance at scale,

它们能使生物工程师 在生物学领域大放异彩，

tools like DNA sequencing, automation and machine learning are essential.

并提出科学性问题 以解决深层次技术难题。

They allow the organism engineers to really zoom in on biology,

从分子层面设计成功的解决方案

asking scientific questions to solve deep technical challenges.

最终会和行星层面设计 的方案实现成功交互。

但是，倘若研究与发展 都只局限于技术层面的话，

Successful solutions designed at a molecular scale

那通过将更多的问题置之不顾， 我们又是冒着什么样的风险呢？

eventually interact with those at a planetary one.

But if all of the research and development focuses on the technical question alone,

我们已经在生物学，科技与社会，

then what do we risk by excluding the broader context?

这一前所未有的十字路口 徘徊了一年多的时间。

随着新冠疫苗的快速研发， 我们已经看到

We've all spent over a year now living at an unprecedented intersection

尽管技术修复提供了 至关重要的解决方案，

between biology, technology and society.

但他们不总是灵丹妙药，

We've witnessed, with the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine,

因为现实世界是复杂的社会经济体，

that although techno-fixes offer us a critical remedy,

统治阶级决定了利益流向。

they don't always provide a panaceum,

and that’s because the real world is a complex social and economic one,

距救急疫苗真正惠及世界成百上千民众 还需要大概两年的时间，

where dominant systems determine the distribution of benefits.

在一个全球化的世界里， 这一点会逐渐消解社群里的效益。

It will be another two years

before hundreds of millions across the world

科学界的努力长期 被视为跟真实世界是分开的，

receive their emergency vaccines,

which, in a globalized world, risks undermining its efficacy

正是这种观点极大局限了 生物科技的美好愿景。

on all our communities.

Scientific endeavors have long been considered separate

如果没有全面的构想的话， 我们在当时可能会以为能够解决问题，

to real-world contexts,

an idea that places profound limitations on the promises of biotechnology.

但后来会认识到， 这种做法并没有很大的作用。

类似的逻辑也出现在

By missing the full scope of design, we may think we’re solving problems

面向消费者的商品和工业 的生物技术领域。

and realize later that actually, not much has changed.

到目前为止， 这种逻辑能为商品市场带来创新，

And a similar logic is emerging

通过替代实现改变有问题的成分，

in biotechnology for consumer goods and industry.

同时保持主流的心态和力量的动向。

So far, it offers innovations for commodities markets,

必须重申，技术层面上良好的解决办法

drop-in replacements that change problematic ingredients,

可能加剧社会和生态不平等。

and yet sustain prevailing mindsets and dynamics of power.

为了解决这种不平衡状态，

Again, technically sound solutions

我们需要采取一种改革措施，

that unwittingly reinforce social and ecological inequities.

第一步就是得先弄明白 “我们希望的世界的样子是怎样的？”

Addressing these asymmetries

requires us to take a more revolutionary approach,

如果我们两个都能做呢？

如果我们既能在分子层面上进行设计，

one that begins by asking "What kind of a world do we wish for?"

又能时时考虑到真实世界的需求呢？

生物学设计上需要更具整合性的方案，

So what if we could do both?

这需要我们考虑更多细微的问题

What if we could design at the molecular scale,

with the real world in mind?

这不是指 “人们会买什么，”

而是 “如果我们先考虑的 是社会而不是商品的话呢？”

A more integrated approach to designing with biology

requires us to ask more nuanced questions;

“分布式生物技术能使 人们找到因地制宜的解决方法吗？”

not "What will people buy,"

but "What if we put communities, rather than commodities, first."

“我们是否能超越一种 只能创造单一文化的生物科技

"Could distributed biotechnology

并创造一种像自然界， 一样能包容各种生态的技术呢？”

enable people to find local solutions to local problems?"

"Can we move beyond a biotechnology that creates monocultures

我们如何为下一代 提供他们拓宽技能、知识和想法，

to one which, like nature itself, embraces a multiplicity of adaptations?"

所需的工具、空间和社区呢？

"How do we equip the next generation with the tools,

为解决这些问题， 大量有条不紊的工作正在进行。

spaces and communities they need to broaden their skills,

在英国、加纳和喀麦隆都拥有节点的

knowledge and ideas?"

An incredible amount of work that begins to address these questions

开放式生物经济实验室 （Open Bioeconomy Lab), 设计了开源研究工具,

is already underway.

The Open Bioeconomy Lab,

which has nodes in the UK, Ghana and Cameroon,

并将创新领域扩展 到资源受限的环境。

数千年以来，

designs open-source research tools to expand geographies of innovation

人类驯化了植物，使它们能被食用，

创造了营养价值丰富， 璀璨多姿的饮食文化。

into resource-constrained contexts.

Over thousands of years,

微拜（MicroByre) 也正用微生物做着同样的事。

we've domesticated plants to make them edible,

这家总部位于旧金山的初创公司 组装了多种多样的微生物文库

creating nutrient-rich, diverse and delicious food cultures.

来创造一个更有韧性的生物工具箱.

MicroByre wants to do the same, but for microbes.

想象一下不同类型的产色素细菌 的扩展调色板和不同的应用.

The San Francisco based start-up assembles diverse microbial libraries

for a more resilient biological toolkit.

那些来自伦敦著名的艺术学校 中央圣马丁的不同专业的学生

Imagine the expanded color palettes and different applications,

from different types of pigment-producing bacteria.

正在从生物媒介中 实践新的可持续设计.

And from London's famed art school, Central Saint Martins,

他们将在潮湿的实验室里工作， 置身于历史时尚织物和建筑之间，

students from different disciplines

are generating new sustainable design practices

from biological medium.

这是教育事业上文理学科的大一统.

You'll find them at work in a wet lab,

nested between historic fashion textiles and architecture departments,

生物技术中有 许多这种系统设计工作的例子—

a radical reunification of the arts and sciences in education.

把它们拼凑在一起， 就能看见生物学未来的不同景象。

Many examples of this type of systemic design work in biotechnology exist --

我不知道我们留在巴黎 的时间胶囊发生了什么,

piece them together, and you start to glimpse different visions

但是我记得，我们为一个 更公平正义的世界祈愿，

of our biological futures.

在那里，世间万物欣欣向荣。

I don't know what happened

to the time capsule we left behind in Paris,

技术和设计以它们自己重要的方式 在否认这一点上发挥了作用，

but I do remember wishing for a more just and meaningful world,

where all of nature can thrive.

但改变这一点是我们力所能及的。

In their own significant ways,

基本上，

这意味着认识到生物学的设计、 与生物学的结合以及生物学的产生，

technology and design have played their role in denying us this,

是设计系统而不是物件， 这是一个真正有抱负的设计主张，

but it's in our power to change that.

Fundamentally,

this means recognizing that the design of, with and from biology

体现着一饕以繁荣、 关怀和公平为中心的价值观。

is designing systems and not stuff,

我们有机会建立真正 具有变革性的系统，

and that with a truly ambitious design proposition,

one that’s based on values that center flourishing,

它能衡量价值和影响的整体， 以及影响我们如何看待扩展创新，

caretaking and equity.

We have the opportunity to build truly transformative systems,

并为我们现在希望 得到的未来作出贡献。

systems that open up holistic measures of value and impact,

and how we think about scaling innovation

and doing business for the futures we now need.