0:00:00.760,0:00:02.735
What if our plants

0:00:02.760,0:00:05.456
could sense the toxicity[br]levels in the soil

0:00:05.480,0:00:08.520
and express that toxicity[br]through the color of its leaves?

0:00:09.680,0:00:13.000
What if those plants could also[br]remove those toxins from the soil?

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Instead, what if those plants

0:00:16.680,0:00:18.536
grew their own packaging,

0:00:18.560,0:00:21.136
or were designed to only be harvested

0:00:21.160,0:00:23.416
by their owners' own patented machines?

0:00:23.440,0:00:25.336
What happens when biological design

0:00:25.360,0:00:28.896
is driven by the motivations[br]of mass-produced commodities?

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What kind of world would that be?

0:00:31.240,0:00:35.256
My name is Ani, and I'm a designer[br]and researcher at MIT Media Lab,

0:00:35.280,0:00:39.416
where I'm part of a relatively new[br]and unique group called Design Fiction,

0:00:39.440,0:00:43.536
where we're wedged somewhere[br]between science fiction and science fact.

0:00:43.560,0:00:47.696
And at MIT, I am lucky enough[br]to rub shoulders with scientists

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studying all kinds of cutting edge fields

0:00:49.720,0:00:52.096
like synthetic neurobiology,

0:00:52.120,0:00:54.136
artificial intelligence, artificial life

0:00:54.160,0:00:55.896
and everything in between.

0:00:55.920,0:00:59.736
And across campus,[br]there's truly brilliant scientists

0:00:59.760,0:01:03.256
asking questions like,[br]"How can I make the world a better place?"

0:01:03.280,0:01:06.176
And part of what my group[br]likes to ask is, "What is better?"

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What is better for you, for me,

0:01:08.320,0:01:10.456
for a white woman, a gay man,

0:01:10.480,0:01:12.976
a veteran, a child with a prosthetic?

0:01:13.000,0:01:15.056
Technology is never neutral.

0:01:15.080,0:01:16.736
It frames a reality

0:01:16.760,0:01:18.536
and reflects a context.

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Can you imagine what it would say[br]about the work-life balance at your office

0:01:22.320,0:01:24.496
if these were standard issue[br]on the first day?

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(Laughter)

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I believe it's the role[br]of artists and designers

0:01:28.240,0:01:30.376
to raise critical questions.

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Art is how you can see[br]and feel the future,

0:01:32.840,0:01:35.296
and today is an exciting[br]time to be a designer,

0:01:35.320,0:01:37.456
for all the new tools becoming accessible.

0:01:37.480,0:01:39.056
For instance, synthetic biology

0:01:39.080,0:01:41.976
seeks to write biology[br]as a design problem.

0:01:42.000,0:01:43.536
And through these developments,

0:01:43.560,0:01:46.496
my lab asks, what are the roles[br]and responsibilities

0:01:46.520,0:01:50.856
of an artist, designer,[br]scientist or businessman?

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What are the implications

0:01:52.440,0:01:55.176
of synthetic biology, genetic engineering,

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and how are they shaping our notions[br]of what it means to be a human?

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What are the implications of this[br]on society, on evolution

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and what are the stakes in this game?

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My own speculative design research[br]at the current moment

0:02:09.000,0:02:10.416
plays with synthetic biology,

0:02:10.440,0:02:13.456
but for more emotionally driven output.

0:02:13.480,0:02:16.256
I'm obsessed with olfaction[br]as a design space,

0:02:16.280,0:02:19.096
and this project started with this idea

0:02:19.120,0:02:22.896
of what if you could take[br]a smell selfie, a smelfie?

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(Laughter)

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What if you could take[br]your own natural body odor

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and send it to a lover?

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Funny enough, I found that this[br]was a 19th century Austrian tradition,

0:02:33.040,0:02:35.656
where couples in courtship[br]would keep a slice of apple

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crammed under their armpit during dances,

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and at the end of the evening,

0:02:39.840,0:02:43.216
the girl would give the guy[br]she most fancied her used fruit,

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and if the feeling was mutual,

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he would wolf down that stinky apple.

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(Laughter)

0:02:51.680,0:02:54.976
Famously, Napoleon wrote[br]many love letters to Josephine,

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but perhaps amongst the most memorable[br]is this brief and urgent note:

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"Home in three days. Don't bathe."

0:03:01.520,0:03:03.576
(Laughter)

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Both Napoleon and Josephine[br]adored violets.

0:03:07.320,0:03:09.456
Josephine wore violet-scented perfume,

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carried violets on their wedding day,

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and Napoleon sent her a bouquet of violets

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every year on their anniversary.

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When Josephine passed away,

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he planted violets at her grave,

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and just before his exile,

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he went back to that tomb site,

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picked some of those flowers,[br]entombed them in a locket

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and wore them until the day he died.

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And I found this so moving,

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I thought, could I engineer that violet[br]to smell just like Josephine?

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What if, for the rest of eternity,

0:03:33.720,0:03:35.296
when you went to visit her site,

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you could smell Josephine[br]just as Napoleon loved her?

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Could we engineer new ways of mourning,

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new rituals for remembering?

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After all, we've engineered[br]transgenic crops

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to be maximized for profit,

0:03:48.040,0:03:50.176
crops that stand up to transport,

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crops that have a long shelf life,

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crops that taste sugary sweet[br]but resist pests,

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sometimes at the expense[br]of nutritional value.

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Can we harness these same technologies[br]for an emotionally sensitive output?

0:04:02.680,0:04:03.976
So currently in my lab,

0:04:04.000,0:04:07.296
I'm researching questions like,[br]what makes a human smell like a human?

0:04:07.320,0:04:09.936
And it turns out it's fairly complicated.

0:04:09.960,0:04:13.176
Factors such as your diet,[br]your medications, your lifestyle

0:04:13.200,0:04:15.216
all factor into the way you smell.

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And I found that our sweat[br]is mostly odorless,

0:04:17.800,0:04:19.935
but it's our bacteria and microbiome

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that's responsible for your smells,[br]your mood, your identity

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and so much beyond.

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And there's all kinds[br]of molecules that you emit

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but which we only perceive subconsciously.

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So I've been cataloging and collecting

0:04:33.480,0:04:35.656
bacteria from different sites of my body.

0:04:35.680,0:04:37.656
After talking to a scientist, we thought,

0:04:37.680,0:04:39.376
maybe the perfect concoction of Ani

0:04:39.400,0:04:43.376
is like 10 percent collarbone,[br]30 percent underarm,

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40 percent bikini line and so forth,

0:04:45.720,0:04:48.776
and occasionally[br]I let researchers from other labs

0:04:48.800,0:04:50.456
take a sniff of my samples.

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And it's been interesting to hear[br]how smell of the body

0:04:53.680,0:04:56.496
is perceived outside[br]of the context of the body.

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I've gotten feedback such as,

0:04:58.120,0:05:00.576
smells like flowers, like chicken,

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like cornflakes,

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like beef carnitas.

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(Laughter)

0:05:05.240,0:05:08.856
At the same time, I cultivate[br]a set of carnivorous plants

0:05:08.880,0:05:12.536
for their ability to emit[br]fleshlike odors to attract prey,

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in an attempt to kind of create[br]this symbiotic relationship

0:05:15.400,0:05:18.320
between my bacteria and this organism.

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And as it so happens,[br]I'm at MIT and I'm in a bar,

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and I was talking to a scientist

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who happens to be a chemist[br]and a plant scientist,

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and I was telling him about my project,

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and he was like, "Well, this sounds[br]like botany for lonely women."

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(Laughter)

0:05:35.040,0:05:37.936
Unperturbed, I said, "OK."

0:05:37.960,0:05:39.176
I challenged him.

0:05:39.200,0:05:42.496
"Can we engineer a plant[br]that can love me back?"

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And for some reason,[br]he was like, "Sure, why not?"

0:05:46.000,0:05:48.936
So we started with,[br]can we get a plant to grow towards me

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like I was the sun?

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And so we're looking at mechanisms[br]in plants such as phototropism,

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which causes the plant[br]to grow towards the sun

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by producing hormones like auxin,

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which causes cell elongation[br]on the shady side.

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And right now I'm creating[br]a set of lipsticks

0:06:03.440,0:06:05.256
that are infused with these chemicals

0:06:05.280,0:06:08.936
that allow me to interact with a plant[br]on its own chemical signatures --

0:06:08.960,0:06:12.376
lipsticks that cause plants[br]to grow where I kiss it,

0:06:12.400,0:06:15.136
plants that blossom[br]where I kiss the bloom.

0:06:15.160,0:06:17.936
And through these projects,

0:06:17.960,0:06:19.376
I'm asking questions like,

0:06:19.400,0:06:21.096
how do we define nature?

0:06:21.120,0:06:24.656
How do we define nature[br]when we can reengineer its properties,

0:06:24.680,0:06:26.096
and when should we do it?

0:06:26.120,0:06:29.816
Should we do it for profit, for utility?

0:06:29.840,0:06:31.536
Can we do it for emotional ends?

0:06:31.560,0:06:35.136
Can biotechnology be used[br]to create work as moving as music?

0:06:35.160,0:06:37.056
What are the thresholds between science

0:06:37.080,0:06:39.920
and its ability to shape[br]our emotional landscape?

0:06:40.640,0:06:44.416
It's a famous design mantra[br]that form follows function.

0:06:44.440,0:06:48.496
Well, now, wedged somewhere[br]between science, design and art

0:06:48.520,0:06:49.736
I get to ask,

0:06:49.760,0:06:51.216
what if fiction informs fact?

0:06:51.240,0:06:53.296
What kind of R&D lab would that look like

0:06:53.320,0:06:55.936
and what kind of questions[br]would we ask together?

0:06:55.960,0:06:58.296
We often look to technology as the answer,

0:06:58.320,0:06:59.856
but as an artist and designer,

0:06:59.880,0:07:02.376
I like to ask, but what is the question?

0:07:02.400,0:07:03.616
Thank you.

0:07:03.640,0:07:07.000
(Applause)