Week 1 - Principles and Practices

Bio Cities

Biological systems have been subject to millions of years of evolution. Through this process, entities are able to communicate and coordinate in a decentralized and "effortless" manner. Chemical signals are commonly used for communication between different entities, this creates patterns of self organization and resilience that would be desirable for many of man made systems. The amazing results of this coordination can be seen at micro and macro scales. We can see coordination between bacteria as well as coordination between larger and more complex ecosystems.

Cities, as a whole, represent one of the most impactful ways in which modern society interacts with the natural environment. Currently, our cities have not been designed or implemented in the most sustainable ways. The future will require us to be ever more close to the inner workings of biology in form and function. With the advent of smart cities, sensor networks, IoT and AI carry the promise of hyper connected and efficient performance within cities. The problem is that current implementations tend to treat the city as a big factory instead of as a complex natural ecosystem. In the long run, this could lead to cities that are not propely embedded into nature and that end up being detrimental to society and our own planet.

smart city bio city astro pandora

© Disney Parks - Dylan Cole © Astro Boy Concpet Art

Distributed Bio City Sensors

Within the vision of Bio Cities, I want to focus particularyly on the creation of biological sensor networks that allow us to better understand communities and the environment. The netwrok would be a mix of interconnected bioelectromechanical devices that are capable of extarcting information about the environment and communities and sending signals to actuation units or desiscion makers. This, in turn, could lead to better mobility systems, safer streets, more diverse districts, and a more sustainable relationship between technology, society and the environment.

The first implementation of the network would be based on hybrid devices. The devices would be bioelectromechanical units that use certain elements from biotechnology, specifically for sensing, and more tradictional electronics for communciation, data storage and processing. Hybrid systems would only act as the brindge to arrive into fully biological interconnected sensor nodes. The fully biological sensor nodes offer a more sustainable vision due to the fact that the technology would be sufficiently advanced to enable large scale sustainable deployments. Issues regarding pollution from deploying electro mechanical components all around (along with supply chain impacts) would be eliminated if the network could use locally sourced bio based systems. The nodes would be close to fully biological from circuitry (including sensing, actuation, processing, communication and storage) to the enclosures and deployment systems.

step 1 step 2 step 3

Ethical and safety concerns.

What possible or ethical implications could come from this?

How could we mitigate the risks?
  1. Internet like regulation for the network. Everyone owns it and nobody owns it.
  2. Deployment of only Risk Level 2 organisms.
  3. Incentives for iterating through possible failures for devices.
  4. Open source design, code and deployments.
  5. Increase in literacy of how these tools can be used.
Analyzing mitigation alternatives...

Context Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 Option 4 Option 5
Enhance Bio Security
Preventing 0 1 1 1 1
Responding 0 1 1 0 0
Foster Lab Safety
Preventing 0 1 0 1 1
Responding 0 1 0 0 1
Protect The Environment
Preventing 0 1 0 0 1
Responding 0 0 0 0 1
Other Considerations
Feasibility 1 0 1 1 1
Not Impede Research 1 0 1 1 1
Promote Constructive Applications 1 0 0 1 1
Technological Equality 1 0 0 1 1



Bio sensor circular model implementation.

System would revolve a highly audited network. The communities would always maintain the most power over the network, information and its benefits. Companies would act as the key enablers by developing the required infrastructure. Companies would make money through subscriptions to the inffrastructure paid by communities through taxes and public spending so that all members can aim to have equal access. The bio hacking community would be the one that would be responsible for the development of the actual nodes and the applications/tools that could be beneficial for the environment and the community.

implementation