DNA Data Storage & Amazon Ships to the Moon
Fountainhead News: Mar 3, 2017
I. DNA Data Storage
Part of the problem with non-biologic systems is that it requires persistent memory. Not memory in the RAM sense of the word, but in the data storage sense. Every single bit of information that is created needs to be stored somewhere. Every letter, word, photo, transaction, video, and web page. Storage. Every document, Excel file and HR record. Storage.
Biologic Intelligence doesn’t store data like that. Your brain doesn’t either. If you don’t use or access the data, you forget it. Your brain keeps what’s used and slowly removes what isn’t.
But in a weird twist, scientists have begun storing data in DNA. It’s so efficient, in fact, that you could take all the world’s knowledge (Google + the internet), put it into DNA, and store it in a single room.
How do they do it?
At first they translated the 1s and 0s of a computer into the 4 letters of DNA: A, G, T, C. But that wasn’t quite efficient enough. So, a couple scientists at the New York Genome Center took a different approach to invent something new. Sound familiar?
They called it a DNA Fountain (love it) and that link points you to their page and resulting github files. Give it a look or the resulting paper where their approach reaches the theoretical maximum, in ScienceMag. Curiosity is key.
II. Amazon Ships to the Moon
The Washington Post has an exclusive story on a new plan from Bezos. Remember that Bezos bought the Post a few years back. A brilliant strategy to help control his own narrative. If I may steal from the article:
The latest to offer a proposal is Jeffrey P. Bezos, whose space company Blue Origin has been circulating a seven-page white paper to NASA leadership and President Trump’s transition team about the company’s interest in developing a lunar spacecraft with a lander that would touch down near a crater at the south pole where there is water and nearly continuous sunlight for solar energy. The memo urges the space agency to back an Amazon-like shipment service for the moon that would deliver gear for experiments, cargo and habitats by mid-2020, helping to enable “future human settlement” of the moon.
Two things of note here.
- Amazon already understands our theory of Space Mining & Manufacturing, and that it will be the biggest gold rush in the history of humankind. We outlined what types of businesses it will take to be successful that entrepreneurs and investors should be spending time on today. Bezos says 2020. That is not 3 decades away. That’s more like 3 years.
- Blue Origin seems to be thinking of the Moon and orbit while Musk’s SpaceX seems to be thinking of Mars. It’s just a differentiation strategy and practically, the possibility of getting to the moon and LEO is much easier than Mars. You may end up seeing Bezos plan pay off sooner than Musk’s.
The water and solar energy piece are also key. Water can be used for energy and life support. Solar power for energy. That’s where you start. Then you need smart machines to help humans, as well as robotic space suits to help protect us from the environment, hopefully built by BMW.
I’d love to get my hands on that white paper.
— Sean
