full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ani Liu: Smelfies, and other experiments in synthetic biology

Unscramble the Blue Letters

My name is Ani, and I'm a designer and researcher at MIT Media Lab, where I'm part of a relatively new and uqiune group called Design Fiction, where we're wedged somewhere between scceine fiction and science fact. And at MIT, I am lucky enough to rub sreolhuds with scientists studying all kinds of cutting edge fields like synthetic neurobiology, aiiracitfl intelligence, artificial life and everything in between. And across campus, there's truly brilliant sinsceitts asking questions like, "How can I make the world a better place?" And part of what my group likes to ask is, "What is better?" What is better for you, for me, for a white woman, a gay man, a veteran, a child with a prohsiettc? Technology is never neutral. It frames a rlaetiy and reflects a context. Can you iiamnge what it would say about the work-life balance at your office if these were standard issue on the first day?

Open Cloze

My name is Ani, and I'm a designer and researcher at MIT Media Lab, where I'm part of a relatively new and ______ group called Design Fiction, where we're wedged somewhere between _______ fiction and science fact. And at MIT, I am lucky enough to rub _________ with scientists studying all kinds of cutting edge fields like synthetic neurobiology, __________ intelligence, artificial life and everything in between. And across campus, there's truly brilliant __________ asking questions like, "How can I make the world a better place?" And part of what my group likes to ask is, "What is better?" What is better for you, for me, for a white woman, a gay man, a veteran, a child with a __________? Technology is never neutral. It frames a _______ and reflects a context. Can you _______ what it would say about the work-life balance at your office if these were standard issue on the first day?

Solution

  1. prosthetic
  2. shoulders
  3. artificial
  4. imagine
  5. unique
  6. scientists
  7. science
  8. reality

Original Text

My name is Ani, and I'm a designer and researcher at MIT Media Lab, where I'm part of a relatively new and unique group called Design Fiction, where we're wedged somewhere between science fiction and science fact. And at MIT, I am lucky enough to rub shoulders with scientists studying all kinds of cutting edge fields like synthetic neurobiology, artificial intelligence, artificial life and everything in between. And across campus, there's truly brilliant scientists asking questions like, "How can I make the world a better place?" And part of what my group likes to ask is, "What is better?" What is better for you, for me, for a white woman, a gay man, a veteran, a child with a prosthetic? Technology is never neutral. It frames a reality and reflects a context. Can you imagine what it would say about the work-life balance at your office if these were standard issue on the first day?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

Important Words

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