Coevolution

The Coevolution project is concerned with the prospects for future human ecologies pertaining to what is now known as synthetic biology. It is dedicated to research on a number of questions about the potential for novel organisms to intervene in the ecological crisis through a variety of means. This initiative will explore the possibilities for synthetic biology to make the fundamental leap from transgenic manipulations of single-celled organisms to guiding the developmental programs of complex multi-cellular life, engendering the prospect of novel organisms with functionally differentiated anatomy and extensive behavioral capacities.  

Likewise, the Coevolution project is an attempt to integrate this developing science into a worldview based in reverence for all life rather than a solely extractive outlook, an attempt to define a new ecological ethic based on multi-species participation rather than the separation of destructive human activities on the one hand and nature reserves on the other. It is an effort to articulate a role for humanity as one of increased integration into the trajectory of evolution, of guiding it toward ever-greater beauty, complexity, sentience, and integration. This work will be followed by a period of explicit hypothesis formation, research design, and further data collection. The Coevolution project will culminate in a period in which we experiment with protocols for shifting worldviews that are developed throughout the course of our research.