- A DARPA program called “FUN DESIGN” (Solicitation DARPA-SN-17-71) is soliciting proposals for a hardware-description language and building-block library that would let computers autonomously synthesize conceptual mechanical systems; the group is debating whether such a language should treat joints, elastic solids, fluids, etc. as primitives and how to encode goals and manufacturability constraints.  
- Participants reference prior work on automated chemical-process-plant design and the A-Design framework (Campbell et al.) as partial precedents, but note that mechanical design must also track rapidly shifting market prices and fabrication limits.  
- The long-running SKDB project (an open-source “apt for machine tools”) was revisited: the idea is to create Debian-style packages for every tool and process, encode their dependencies as a directed graph, and then query the graph to extract a minimal self-replicating subset of hardware.  
- A practical example discussed was how to represent alternative manufacturing routes—e.g., part X can be made either with tools {a,b,c} or {A,B,C,D}—and search for bit-vector fixed points that satisfy (f(x) ∧ x) = x.  
- Dumpster-diving yielded a small peristaltic pump with counter-rotating rollers, illustrating the community’s habit of scavenging lab-grade hardware for bio/DIY projects.  
- Light-hearted but substantive side discussion on whether CRISPR could knock out the Fel d1 saliva protein to create hypoallergenic cats; Balinese cats already produce less Fel d1, suggesting a straightforward gene-edit target.  
- Recollections of the 2012 FBI outreach to DIYbio: links to full transcript (http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/fbi-diybio-2012/) and debate over whether the Bureau’s interest was genuine community engagement or intelligence gathering; FOIA requests filed by members were either ignored or stalled.  
- Brief exchange on the relative threats posed by the FDA versus the FBI: the FDA was judged more lethal in aggregate because it systematically blocks life-saving interventions, whereas the FBI poses only probabilistic individual harm.