A new funhouse mirror scientists are creating could cause unstoppable harm. Happy Holidays?

PLUS a small Christmas edition outlining the 2025 direction for MMT and the TechTonic site as well as a FTW on Authentic. And true wishes for HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Dec 23, 2024

I know! I know! I missed the morning deadline again

MAIN COURSE: Let’s learn a new word, chirality, as tinkering with it could spell our doom

But will scientists refrain from such research

Who knew that organic chemicals - the very stuff of life - like DNA and proteins, were either left or right handed so to speak. Chirality is the structural asymmetry found in complex carbon based molecules. Simply put these molecules point to the left or to the right. Chirality is one factor that governs how these molecules interact. For instance, that is part of how our immune system recognizes rogue invaders like bacteria or protozoa.

So of course we have been messing ….my humblest apologies, researching how to create the mirror or opposite “handedness” in these crucial chemicals. That is, making DNA that points to the left instead of right. Sort of like teachers repeatedly smacking my father’s hand in school in order to force him to be right-handed. There is a whole field of study called synthetic biology. Naturally scientists have only theories not evidence to guide us, as these mirrored chemicals will basically be invisible to life forms.

The recent story is that several scientists have decided to stop this research and are encouraging all others to join them. Will the others join them? The cynical1 side of me points out that for any type of research or innovation, if humans can do it, they will do it, no matter the risks. I can think of almost no examples where we placed voluntary constraints on our collective behaviours that stuck. Consider:

Create nuclear weapons to kill masses of people and ruin the earth’s environment for millenia. Done and scaled to obliteration levels.
Develop genetic manipulation technologies so we can clone poor Rover when he dies. Check. Normalized enough that the Argentinian president has five different copies of his beloved original pet.
Let’s see if we can make guns and other weapons from 3-D technology. Starting to be rolled out and helping in the commission of crimes in 2024.
Various AI creations - stay tuned to this blog

One researcher who doesn’t sound like he is jumping on board this abandonment scheme says creating a completely mirrored bacterium is some considerable ways away. Well I’m totally relieved now. Except a “ways away” means ten years or less, as the technological advances in this domain are increasing.

Naturally the clumsy cost-benefit analyses that scientists and their backers lean on to justifying various forms of primary research has been broken out and dusted off. Quotes such as “could lead to breakthroughs in medicine” and “might also enhance industrial bioproduction processes”. While this group count their “mights” and “coulds” in this hoary economic exercise, let’s ponder some other quotes: “The researchers likened the threat of mirror bacteria to that of an invasive species” raises more than an eyebrow. “We're basically giving instructions of how to make a perfect bioweapon” is highly disquieting. Also consider that creating mirror chirality “could cause a catastrophic multi-species pandemic.” That’s the could we should listen to.

But will we?

Plans for 2025

When I started writing in late September of this year I had only the vaguest plans about vision and I focused primarily on doing something achievable each week to build a writing practice. From there I would see where I could go.

I greatly enjoyed researching and commenting on technology stories, in a snide way. Now I am a believer in the judicious and considered use of technology. After all I spent 45 years planning, introducing and helping business and social organizations assimilate major and often leading edge information technology. I am also a considerable consumer of technology. My experience has lead me to the conclusion that we do not fully understand the medium (5 - 10 years ) and long-range (20 plus year) impacts of technology on our society; we blithely assume it will be mostly great. Over 45 years I have seen how individuals have moved from being mostly reluctant to use technology, to being mad adopters of every latest tech thing. This can create ripples through our socio-cultural fabric that we only partly perceive. In addition, the purveyors of technology are often hucksters and hype mongers.

So I will start a website called TechTonic that is focused on exploring the societal shifts caused by technology, hosted here on Substack. TechTonic will be about highlighting the variety of technology issues we as a society are grappling with and commenting on them in a satirical and humorous way to show that not only is the emperor not wearing clothes, he/she/they want to charge you for them. Maybe another goal is for us all to reflect on our personal uses of technology. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable read and provides some insights into the shifting ground upon which we stand.

In terms of publishing my production features and schedule will be:

A trimmer Monday Morning Tonic (MMT) focused on my takes on trending or faddish technology stories and bringing them down to earth, with a Main Course, Five Things, any Encores and Headline Head Scratchers. It will be on Monday Mornings
A smaller mid-week email called Two Thursday Tidbits, featuring FTW and a QuickByte
Very infrequent longer form - some in series - looks at technology issues and what they mean for us

Some of you are bound to be thinking what on earth does the FTW (Forget The Word) piece have to do with Technology shifts. My belief is that over time, because of our considerable digital mediated world with a nexus of social media, has made our communication shorter and much faster with an emphasis on words as labels rather words to express meaning. Emphasis on visual and audio media has has hastened this change. We have let ourselves be herded into conformity. This helps explain phenomena like this fall’s instant acceptance of the overuse of the terms “weird” and “vibe”.

Which leads use to this week’s word: Authentic

FTW: Authentic

I feel like I’m living in some unspoken reverso world where words suddenly not only are different but actually mean the opposite of what we have used them before. I can hardly read any essay or scan through X / BlueSky without seeing this word crop up. But it seems mostly to signal something virtuous, rather than have a distinct meaning. Let’s look what it used to mean:

Definition from Oxford Dictionary 2004, hardcover

Of undisputed origin; genuine
Reliable or trustworthy

Let me explain why I get confused. Let’s start with people on TikTok or Reels with shaking cameras that their faces are too close to, speaking in over-wrought emotional tones following scripted tropes. This is confusing amateurism with authenticity. Something more professionally produced isn’t inauthentic, it demonstrates more attention to quality. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Influencers across all media forms are considered to be authentic. A recent survey of teenagers found that the number one vocation they aspire to is an influencer.

I was recently consolidating my writing notes and came across this quote from a side hustling style podcast recorded in 2019: “People know when it’s authentic versus people know when you’re a sales person”. I would suggest that people don’t have any friggin’ clue. The products, services, and topics that almost all influencers feature are completely bought and pay for. A modest glance at advertising expenditures shows this to be true. I am at the point that when I see or hear the word authentic I quickly added the required “in” as its prefix.

That’s it for this week. Hopefully all of you have some family or friend time scheduled for the next few days. For we need each more than ever. Next week will be a short MMT focused on Five Predictions I will make about Technology for 2025. See you then.

TechTonic