1 00:00:13,460 --> 00:00:15,436 What if our plants 2 00:00:15,460 --> 00:00:18,156 could sense the toxicity levels in the soil 3 00:00:18,180 --> 00:00:21,220 and express that toxicity through the color of its leaves? 4 00:00:22,419 --> 00:00:25,739 What if those plants could also remove those toxins from the soil? 5 00:00:27,260 --> 00:00:29,356 Instead, what if those plants 6 00:00:29,380 --> 00:00:31,236 grew their own packaging, 7 00:00:32,740 --> 00:00:35,316 or were designed to only be harvested 8 00:00:35,340 --> 00:00:37,596 by their owners' own patented machines? 9 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:41,096 What happens when biological design 10 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,656 is driven by the motivations of mass-produced commodities? 11 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:46,280 What kind of world would that be? 12 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:52,416 My name is Ani, and I'm a designer and researcher at MIT Media Lab, 13 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,576 where I'm part of a relatively new and unique group called Design Fiction, 14 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:00,696 where we're wedged somewhere between science fiction and science fact. 15 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,194 And at MIT, I am lucky enough to rub shoulders with scientists 16 00:01:05,218 --> 00:01:07,195 studying all kinds of cutting edge fields 17 00:01:07,219 --> 00:01:09,512 like synthetic neurobiology, 18 00:01:09,536 --> 00:01:11,553 artificial intelligence, artificial life 19 00:01:11,577 --> 00:01:13,313 and everything in between. 20 00:01:14,370 --> 00:01:18,186 And across campus, there's truly brilliant scientists 21 00:01:18,210 --> 00:01:21,706 asking questions like, "How can I make the world a better place?" 22 00:01:21,730 --> 00:01:24,626 And part of what my group likes to ask is, "What is better?" 23 00:01:25,550 --> 00:01:27,646 What is better for you, for me, 24 00:01:27,670 --> 00:01:29,806 for a white woman, a gay man, 25 00:01:29,830 --> 00:01:32,326 a veteran, a child with a prosthetic? 26 00:01:33,700 --> 00:01:35,756 Technology is never neutral. 27 00:01:35,780 --> 00:01:37,436 It frames a reality 28 00:01:37,460 --> 00:01:39,236 and reflects a context. 29 00:01:39,260 --> 00:01:42,996 Can you imagine what it would say about the work-life balance at your office 30 00:01:43,020 --> 00:01:45,196 if these were standard issue on the first day? 31 00:01:45,220 --> 00:01:46,636 (Laughter) 32 00:01:47,460 --> 00:01:49,716 I believe it's the role of artists and designers 33 00:01:49,740 --> 00:01:51,876 to raise critical questions. 34 00:01:51,900 --> 00:01:54,316 Art is how you can see and feel the future, 35 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:58,536 and today is an exciting time to be a designer, 36 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,696 for all the new tools becoming accessible. 37 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:02,496 For instance, synthetic biology 38 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,416 seeks to write biology as a design problem. 39 00:02:06,250 --> 00:02:07,786 And through these developments, 40 00:02:07,810 --> 00:02:10,746 my lab asks, what are the roles and responsibilities 41 00:02:10,770 --> 00:02:15,106 of an artist, designer, scientist or businessman? 42 00:02:15,130 --> 00:02:16,666 What are the implications 43 00:02:16,690 --> 00:02:19,426 of synthetic biology, genetic engineering, 44 00:02:19,450 --> 00:02:24,351 and how are they shaping our notions of what it means to be a human? 45 00:02:24,890 --> 00:02:28,186 What are the implications of this on society, on evolution 46 00:02:28,210 --> 00:02:30,786 and what are the stakes in this game? 47 00:02:32,050 --> 00:02:35,051 My own speculative design research at the current moment 48 00:02:35,075 --> 00:02:36,586 plays with synthetic biology, 49 00:02:36,610 --> 00:02:38,669 but for more emotionally driven output. 50 00:02:39,250 --> 00:02:42,026 I'm obsessed with olfaction as a design space, 51 00:02:42,050 --> 00:02:45,065 and this project started with this idea 52 00:02:45,089 --> 00:02:48,479 of what if you could take a smell selfie, a smelfie? 53 00:02:48,503 --> 00:02:49,977 (Laughter) 54 00:02:50,001 --> 00:02:52,660 What if you could take your own natural body odor 55 00:02:52,684 --> 00:02:54,740 and send it to a lover? 56 00:02:54,921 --> 00:02:59,186 Funny enough, I found that this was a 19th century Austrian tradition, 57 00:02:59,210 --> 00:03:01,826 where couples in courtship would keep a slice of apple 58 00:03:01,850 --> 00:03:04,426 crammed under their armpit during dances, 59 00:03:04,450 --> 00:03:05,986 and at the end of the evening, 60 00:03:06,010 --> 00:03:09,386 the girl would give the guy she most fancied her used fruit, 61 00:03:09,410 --> 00:03:11,586 and if the feeling was mutual, 62 00:03:11,610 --> 00:03:13,546 he would wolf down that stinky apple. 63 00:03:13,570 --> 00:03:18,526 (Laughter) 64 00:03:18,550 --> 00:03:22,946 Famously, Napoleon wrote many love letters to Josephine, 65 00:03:22,970 --> 00:03:27,226 but perhaps amongst the most memorable is this brief and urgent note: 66 00:03:27,250 --> 00:03:29,466 "Home in three days. Don't bathe." 67 00:03:29,490 --> 00:03:31,546 (Laughter) 68 00:03:33,370 --> 00:03:35,530 Both Napoleon and Josephine adored violets. 69 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:38,696 Josephine wore violet-scented perfume, 70 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:40,536 carried violets on their wedding day, 71 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:42,575 and Napoleon sent her a bouquet of violets 72 00:03:42,599 --> 00:03:44,136 every year on their anniversary. 73 00:03:44,890 --> 00:03:46,766 When Josephine passed away, 74 00:03:46,790 --> 00:03:48,366 he planted violets at her grave, 75 00:03:48,390 --> 00:03:50,206 and just before his exile, 76 00:03:50,230 --> 00:03:52,366 he went back to that tomb site, 77 00:03:52,390 --> 00:03:55,046 picked some of those flowers, entombed them in a locket 78 00:03:55,070 --> 00:03:56,806 and wore them until the day he died. 79 00:03:56,830 --> 00:03:58,366 And I found this so moving, 80 00:03:58,390 --> 00:04:02,286 I thought, could I engineer that violet to smell just like Josephine? 81 00:04:02,930 --> 00:04:04,586 What if, for the rest of eternity, 82 00:04:04,610 --> 00:04:06,186 when you went to visit her site, 83 00:04:06,210 --> 00:04:09,466 you could smell Josephine just as Napoleon loved her? 84 00:04:09,490 --> 00:04:11,906 Could we engineer new ways of mourning, 85 00:04:11,930 --> 00:04:14,026 new rituals for remembering? 86 00:04:14,500 --> 00:04:17,196 After all, we've engineered transgenic crops 87 00:04:17,220 --> 00:04:19,356 to be maximized for profit, 88 00:04:19,380 --> 00:04:21,516 crops that stand up to transport, 89 00:04:21,540 --> 00:04:23,476 crops that have a long shelf life, 90 00:04:23,500 --> 00:04:25,956 crops that taste sugary sweet but resist pests, 91 00:04:25,980 --> 00:04:29,396 sometimes at the expense of nutritional value. 92 00:04:29,420 --> 00:04:33,996 Can we harness these same technologies for an emotionally sensitive output? 93 00:04:34,870 --> 00:04:36,166 So currently in my lab, 94 00:04:36,190 --> 00:04:39,486 I'm researching questions like, what makes a human smell like a human? 95 00:04:39,510 --> 00:04:41,826 And it turns out it's fairly complicated. 96 00:04:41,850 --> 00:04:45,066 Factors such as your diet, your medications, your lifestyle 97 00:04:45,090 --> 00:04:47,106 all factor into the way you smell. 98 00:04:48,370 --> 00:04:50,906 And I found that our sweat is mostly odorless, 99 00:04:50,930 --> 00:04:53,065 but it's our bacteria and microbiome 100 00:04:53,089 --> 00:04:56,826 that's responsible for your smells, your mood, your identity 101 00:04:56,850 --> 00:04:58,466 and so much beyond. 102 00:04:58,490 --> 00:05:00,786 And there's all kinds of molecules that you emit 103 00:05:00,810 --> 00:05:03,090 but which we only perceive subconsciously. 104 00:05:04,250 --> 00:05:06,586 So I've been cataloging and collecting 105 00:05:06,610 --> 00:05:08,786 bacteria from different sites of my body. 106 00:05:08,810 --> 00:05:10,786 After talking to a scientist, we thought, 107 00:05:10,810 --> 00:05:12,506 maybe the perfect concoction of Ani 108 00:05:12,530 --> 00:05:16,506 is like 10 percent collarbone, 30 percent underarm, 109 00:05:16,530 --> 00:05:18,626 40 percent bikini line and so forth, 110 00:05:18,650 --> 00:05:21,706 and occasionally I let researchers from other labs 111 00:05:21,730 --> 00:05:23,386 take a sniff of my samples. 112 00:05:23,410 --> 00:05:26,586 And it's been interesting to hear how smell of the body 113 00:05:26,610 --> 00:05:29,426 is perceived outside of the context of the body. 114 00:05:30,050 --> 00:05:31,626 I've gotten feedback such as, 115 00:05:31,650 --> 00:05:34,106 smells like flowers, like chicken, 116 00:05:34,130 --> 00:05:35,346 like cornflakes, 117 00:05:35,370 --> 00:05:36,826 like beef carnitas. 118 00:05:36,850 --> 00:05:38,746 (Laughter) 119 00:05:38,970 --> 00:05:42,586 At the same time, I cultivate a set of carnivorous plants 120 00:05:42,610 --> 00:05:46,266 for their ability to emit fleshlike odors to attract prey, 121 00:05:46,290 --> 00:05:49,106 in an attempt to kind of create this symbiotic relationship 122 00:05:49,130 --> 00:05:52,050 between my bacteria and this organism. 123 00:05:53,250 --> 00:05:55,906 And as it so happens, I'm at MIT and I'm in a bar, 124 00:05:55,930 --> 00:05:58,226 and I was talking to a scientist 125 00:05:58,250 --> 00:06:00,626 who happens to be a chemist and a plant scientist, 126 00:06:00,650 --> 00:06:02,546 and I was telling him about my project, 127 00:06:02,570 --> 00:06:05,706 and he was like, "Well, this sounds like botany for lonely women." 128 00:06:05,730 --> 00:06:08,746 (Laughter) 129 00:06:08,770 --> 00:06:11,437 Unperturbed, I said, "OK." 130 00:06:11,461 --> 00:06:12,678 I challenged him. 131 00:06:12,702 --> 00:06:15,026 "Can we engineer a plant that can love me back?" 132 00:06:15,050 --> 00:06:17,806 And for some reason, he was like, "Sure, why not?" 133 00:06:17,830 --> 00:06:20,766 So we started with, can we get a plant to grow towards me 134 00:06:20,790 --> 00:06:22,246 like I was the sun? 135 00:06:22,270 --> 00:06:25,906 And so we're looking at mechanisms in plants such as phototropism, 136 00:06:25,930 --> 00:06:28,106 which causes the plant to grow towards the sun 137 00:06:28,130 --> 00:06:29,905 by producing hormones like auxin, 138 00:06:29,929 --> 00:06:32,585 which causes cell elongation on the shady side. 139 00:06:32,990 --> 00:06:35,126 And right now I'm creating a set of lipsticks 140 00:06:35,150 --> 00:06:37,366 that are infused with these chemicals 141 00:06:37,390 --> 00:06:41,046 that allow me to interact with a plant on its own chemical signatures -- 142 00:06:41,070 --> 00:06:44,486 lipsticks that cause plants to grow where I kiss it, 143 00:06:44,510 --> 00:06:47,246 plants that blossom where I kiss the bloom. 144 00:06:48,100 --> 00:06:50,876 And through these projects, 145 00:06:50,900 --> 00:06:52,415 I'm asking questions like, 146 00:06:52,439 --> 00:06:54,036 how do we define nature? 147 00:06:54,060 --> 00:06:57,596 How do we define nature when we can reengineer its properties, 148 00:06:57,620 --> 00:06:59,107 and when should we do it? 149 00:06:59,131 --> 00:07:02,441 Should we do it for profit, for utility? 150 00:07:02,465 --> 00:07:04,161 Can we do it for emotional ends? 151 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:09,776 Can biotechnology be used to create work as moving as music? 152 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:11,696 What are the thresholds between science 153 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,560 and its ability to shape our emotional landscape? 154 00:07:15,380 --> 00:07:19,156 It's a famous design mantra that form follows function. 155 00:07:19,180 --> 00:07:23,236 Well, now, wedged somewhere between science, design and art 156 00:07:23,260 --> 00:07:24,476 I get to ask, 157 00:07:24,500 --> 00:07:25,956 what if fiction informs fact? 158 00:07:25,980 --> 00:07:28,036 What kind of R&D lab would that look like 159 00:07:28,060 --> 00:07:30,676 and what kind of questions would we ask together? 160 00:07:32,330 --> 00:07:34,666 We often look to technology as the answer, 161 00:07:34,690 --> 00:07:36,226 but as an artist and designer, 162 00:07:36,250 --> 00:07:38,746 I like to ask, but what is the question? 163 00:07:38,770 --> 00:07:39,986 Thank you. 164 00:07:40,010 --> 00:07:47,010 (Applause)