Think he describes a reality where we know a lot today and yet still have ways to go in order to do something that intentional to an apple. His presentation on DNA computing in general (linked at bottom) goes into some depth there.
What caught my eye is that a common apple has a DNA size roughly as large and complex as the human genome itself, with a disclaimer that the DNA size doesn't translate to complexity. But meanwhile, we don't even know how many genes a human being has (estimate changed in 20 years from 100k down to ~20k), but a level beneath that complexity we don't even know "how our own cells know where a gene begins" (quoted from his presentation).
Think he describes a reality where we know a lot today and yet still have ways to go in order to do something that intentional to an apple. His presentation on DNA computing in general (linked at bottom) goes into some depth there.
What caught my eye is that a common apple has a DNA size roughly as large and complex as the human genome itself, with a disclaimer that the DNA size doesn't translate to complexity. But meanwhile, we don't even know how many genes a human being has (estimate changed in 20 years from 100k down to ~20k), but a level beneath that complexity we don't even know "how our own cells know where a gene begins" (quoted from his presentation).