[In-Depth Look] Bio Innovation Beyond Movies

Dongchul Kim, Ph.D. in Engineering · Advisor at Bespin Global

There is a term called Moore's Law that refers to the speed of IT development. It was a prediction popular in the 1960s that semiconductor integration would double every one and a half years. In reality, it was revised to 24 months, and Samsung Electronics even set a goal to shorten it to 12 months. This has also been used as a key indicator to explain the internet economy. It can be interpreted as semiconductor performance doubling at the same price or the price of semiconductors with the same performance dropping by half. However, such improvements in semiconductor performance have inherent limits in handling integration density and heat dissipation, leading to frequent discussions recently about the impending end of Moore's Law.

As IT advances, the modernization of traditional industries also progresses simultaneously. Although overshadowed by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, tremendous progress has also been made in the bioindustry. When COVID-19 initially broke out in Wuhan, rumors spread that it was artificially created. The Beijing Genome Institute, the world's largest synthetic biology research institute, was established in 1999, and in fact, such pathogens can now be created relatively easily with current technology. Cases related to bio-errors threatening humanity and bio-terrorism threatening peace have grown from brief news snippets in newspaper corners to global concerns that the entire world must worry about.

Steven Kotler, a New York Times journalist and co-founder of the Human Genome Project, mentioned the possibility of malicious bio-terrorism in his book Tomorrowland (2015). In 2002, Eckard Wimmer, a virologist at Stony Brook University in the U.S., succeeded in creating a genome that causes poliomyelitis by purchasing DNA through mail order. At that time, the project cost about 600 million KRW over several years, but now, with the development of IT and artificial intelligence, it is said to be possible within about a week and for around 2 million KRW. It is expected that soon, there will be a leap in development to a level where costs are almost negligible. If created and spread with malicious intent, it could instantly undo the efforts and costs humanity has invested to eradicate poliomyelitis.

Overcoming disabilities is one of humanity's challenges. Significant progress has been made in attempts to replace visual impairment caused by vision loss with technology. This involves connecting a camera to the brain's visual center instead of the eye to recognize objects. Although there is still a large gap compared to the original eyeball's function, given the speed of technological advancement, scenes like those in movies will unfold in the near future. When this research on vision reaches completion, it could cause tremendous social upheaval. Mechanical eyes could possess abilities surpassing human eyes. They could see ultraviolet or infrared spectra and even see through bodies. Moreover, mechanical eyes could be attached anywhere on the body. It is conceivable that people might attempt to replace their eyeballs with highly capable artificial lenses. Future humans could be said to have become the real-life versions of the Six Million Dollar Man or the character Sommers from past dramas.

In Korea, there was controversy over stem cells just a few years ago, but now significant progress has been made globally in the existence and detection of stem cells. The bioindustry using stem cells capable of differentiating into anything provides sufficient material to change the world once again. Therefore, securing a leading position in this field is important. When the Human Genome Project first started in 1990, the required research cost was over 300 billion KRW. Due to technological advances, by 2010, the cost to analyze such genomic sequences had dropped to about 60 million KRW, and just two years later, in 2012, it recorded a tremendous decline to about 1 million KRW. Soon, it will be possible to receive genome analysis results within a day for about 10,000 KRW. This speed surpasses even the development of IT itself. Perhaps there are aspects where real science has advanced beyond movies. While it is an exciting imagination, one can only hope it will not be used maliciously in reality.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.