Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform our Lives, Work, and World by Jamie Metzl

Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform our Lives, Work, and World Reviews

• 
  Bharath

  This is a very detailed account on how biotech is evolving – gene editing especially has extensive coverage.
  
  The book starts with the current state of gene editing. The world was taken aback when Dr He in China reported the birth of the first genetically modified babies, to confer resistance to HIV. This later led to widespread criticism of irresponsible use of scientific advances. Gene editing has made rapid strides in recent years, and we are well poised to address many gene originated conditions. AI will also make precision medicine a reality. The author has been a part of a WHO committee on gene editing, and he mentions that many congressmen seek his views. The Covid 19 pandemic finds mention including his doubts of it originating as a wet market phenomenon and feels the possibility of it being a lab virus should be investigated. There is also coverage of digital twins, genetically modified crops & animals, plant & lab grown meat. Over 60% mass is now of farm animals and we slaughter 73 billion land animals per year. The antibiotics given to animals in captivity has also led to resistant bacteria.
  
  This is a book which has the right flow – context of the history of genetics and the recent rapid advances. The coverage is very detailed and comprehensive. There is not much coverage of AI, though it figures in a sketchy manner. There is also pessimism on people’s inclination to change their dietary habits – this is an urgent need, and I would have expected him to advocate it rather than make silly remarks like veggie burgers being a flop. Rather, healthy eating & planet action does not come across as a priority for the author. I also found the narration quite dry in many sections.
  
  An informative book covering an interesting area, which I recommend.
  
  Thanks to Netgalley, Timber Press and the author for a free electronic review copy.
• 
  CatReader

  3.5 stars rounded down. My thoughts about Jamie Metzl's latest book Superconvergence are similar to what I thought about his 2019 book
  Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity (
  see my detailed review here) -- I think his ideas are interesting and show at-times brilliant exercises in lateral thinking, but his credibility is spurious at best given that Metzl isn't a scientist or a doctor, so his appraisal of the current state of genetic engineering for clinical and agricultural purposes, as well as the strengths and limitations of AI/ML in revolutionizing these fields, will always be that of an outsider-looking-in.
  
  The first third of this book rehashes many of of the arguments of Hacking Darwin re: genetic engineering, though Metzl has a too-rosy (in my opinion) view of the current state of AI/ML in advancing the field. In my particular practice area of precision medicine, we don't currently rely on ML to predict protein structure and mutation impact in classifying variants in humans because the predictions are wrong a significant amount of the time, as these models don't understand and weigh the nuances in variant classifications that expert humans do.
  
  The final two thirds of the book talk alternately about Metzl's belief that the COVID-19 virus originated from a Chinese lab leak, and Metzl's thoughts on the future of agriculture, livestock, and sustainability.
  
  Overall, an interesting, provocative read, but for laypeople reading this book, remember the source, and seek out other resources from experts in the field before jumping to conclusions.
  
  My statistics:
  Book 160 for 2024
  Book 1763 cumulatively
• 
  Michelle

  DNF. After intro and first chapter.
  As interesting as the topic is, it is IN DEPTH science recounts and was not as accessible as I was hoping for as someone interested but with no background or deep knowledge in anything this sciencey.
• 
  Anna

  I picked up this book after attending a biotechnology conference, and I found the author’s insights into the convergence of biotech, genetics, and AI englightening. This book broadened my perspective on the definition of biotech to not only include healthcare and medicine, but also agriculture, food supply, industrial agriculture and animal health, biofuels, and material development. I knew relatively little about AI going into this book, and so learning about how AI can revolutionize our world across different industries was eye-opening (training AI to help radiologists and gastroenterologists identify polyps, predict protein folding conformations, decide which plants to crossbreed). With the genetics technology, we can start shifting from generalized to precision medicine by understanding the genomes of individual patients. New treatments like polygenic risk assessment, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, and regenerative medicine are in the works. We need to ensure we have enough food to feed our planet’s growing population while minimizing the land used and greenhouse gases emitted. Offering alternative meat options such as plant-based meat (engineered plant proteins to feel and taste like meat) and cultivated meat (growing meat from bovine stem cells) are coming in our future. As for materials, we are working on tackling the cost and scale challenges of seaweed- and yeast-based biofuels, bioplastics, living building materials (bacteria converts nutrients into calcium carbonate for biocement), spider silk, and DNA data storage. These new technologies offer so many potential benefits, but we also must be conscious of risks such as gene drives, synthetic biology pandemics, and genome-edited babies. We must learn lessons from the COVID pandemic that we need to fund biosafety and biosecurity and govern biorisk management practices. We need to optimally organize our societies to solve global crises by creating global authority systems on public health and environment. The author emphasizes the importance of our world working together to ensure a better, sustainable future for humankind.
• 
  Lisa Davidson

  It's annoying that there is so much controversy around biotechnology. So many people politicize science that people are unable to take advantage of safe, effective processes and products. Jamie Metzl does a great job in this book of breaking down several topics, explaining how they work and going through current developments. He makes complicated topics easy to understand, showing how different things work together.
  The most important message, here, though, is making sure that we are honest about our capabilities while being responsible for the outcomes. Covid is one example -- it may or may not have come from a lab, and who knows why it all happened, but the safeguards that would have helped individuals protect themselves fell apart when China took multiple measures to cover it up. While that may be the topic most in the news lately, there are many examples where people aren't responsible with the limited resources we have and other examples where we could do so much better if we worked together.
  I highly recommend this book -- I am not a scientist, but I think everyone should be willing to learn some basics to make better choices and decisions. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.
• 
  Dave

  Superconvergence delves into the intersection of genetics, biotech, and AI with our everyday lives. While I may not agree with all of Metzl's conclusions, I appreciate the well-rounded picture he paints - sometimes bleak but also hopeful for the future.
  
  As a lay reader of the subjects, I cannot speak highly enough of how accessible and engaging the writing style was for me. Metzl has a knack for explaining complex ideas in relatable, understandable ways without making the reader feel ‘talked down to.’ At times, there’s certainly an air of grandiosity and self-importance coming through, but for the most part, this is a down-to-earth read about some hefty subject matter.
  
  Overall, worth reading for those with an interest in learning more about how these fields have advanced and what might come next.
• 
  Breana Sprinkle

  I decided to DNF as I really couldn't get interested after the first chapter or two.
  It's very tech heavy. I guess I thought that it would be more on the biology side & found the data aspect overwhelming. I'm not familiar with tech knowledge. While the beginning explained quite well some concepts.
  I couldn't continue.
  
  Was a Netgalley approved ARC that I just couldn't finish. It slumped.
  Perhaps I'll get a copy eventually so I'd have time to get through it & dissect.
  Especially the correlation between tech & amino acid strings.
  It's the wrong time.
  
  If you're more knowledgeable in tech & biotech, you should check it out.
• 
  Doug

  DNF