The New Atlantis » Steve Talbott

On Making the Genome Whole

The ongoing “epigenetic revolution” in molecular biology is rewriting our understanding of the living organism. The new developments are so radical in their implications that they may lead to a reconceptualization of science rivaling any paradigm change of the past.

In a series of essays published in his online newsletter NetFuture, New Atlantis contributing editor Steve Talbott has been exploring this shift in molecular biology — explaining the findings and weighing their significance.

Steve Talbott

Contributing Editor

Steve Talbott, a New Atlantis contributing editor, is a senior researcher at the Nature Institute and the editor of NetFuture, an online newsletter about technology and human responsibility which the New York Times has called an “undiscovered national treasure.” He is the author of Devices of the Soul: Battling for Our Selves in an Age of Machines (O’Reilly, 2007), The Future Does Not Compute: Transcending the Machines in Our Midst (O’Reilly, 1995), and co-author of Beyond Biotechnology: The Barren Promise of Genetic Engineering (University Press of Kentucky, 2008). Mr. Talbott also serves as editor of In Context, the Nature Institute’s twice-yearly hardcopy journal. Before coming to the Nature Institute, Mr. Talbott did software work and technical writing for engineering organizations of computer manufacturers, ran a family organic farm in Oregon, and completed academic work in philosophy.

Mr. Talbott’s primary undertaking right now is a critique of conventional science with a view toward establishing the foundations of a new, qualitative science. This project, which requires an extraordinarily radical assessment of contemporary habits of thought, is discussed in more detail on the Nature Institute’s website here.

Mr. Talbott can be reached at stevet@oreilly.com.