By MIKE MAGEE
Not surprisingly, my nominee for “word of the year” involves AI, and specifically “the language of human biology.”
As Eliezer Yudkowski, the founder of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and coiner of the term “friendly AI” stated in Forbes:
“Anything that could give rise to smarter-than-human intelligence—in the form of Artificial Intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, or neuroscience-based human intelligence enhancement – wins hands down beyond contest as doing the most to change the world. Nothing else is even in the same league.”
Perhaps the simplest way to begin is to say that “missense” is a form of misspeak or expressing oneself in words “incorrectly or imperfectly.” But in the case of “missense”, the language is not made of words, where (for example) the meaning of a sentence would be disrupted by misspelling or choosing the wrong word.
…
“Illuminate the molecular effects of variants on protein function.”
“Contribute to the identification of pathogenic missense mutations and previously unknown disease-causing genes.”
“Increase the diagnostic yield of rare genetic diseases.”
And of course, this cautionary note: The growing capacity to define and create life carries with it the potential to alter life. Which is to say, what we create will eventually change who we are, and how we behave toward each other.
Mike Magee MD is a Medical Historian and a regular THCB contributor. He is the author of CODE BLUE: Inside America’s Medical Industrial Complex (Grove/2020)
