# Key Points from IRC Discussion

• A user inquired about controlling 3D printers with EEG (brain signals), noting that while both technologies currently have limitations in resolution and cost, the concept of creating physical objects through thought alone represents an exciting transhumanist application.

• Participants discussed DIY DNA synthesis as a critical transhumanist technology, with kanzure advocating for reducing costs from commercial rates ($0.35/bp) to microarray-based approaches ($0.01/bp) to enable genetic self-modification experiments.

• The group explored gene therapy applications including curing color blindness and potentially enabling infrared vision, referencing research on mice engineered to express human cone photopigments.

• Technical discussions covered methods for creating smooth mesh representations of neurons using tools like OpenSCAD, CGAL, OpenCascade, and Blender to create tapered connections between cylindrical segments.

• Researchers shared novel cell transfection methods using atomic force microscopy (AFM), including "plasmid decorated AFM probes" achieving 30% efficiency and techniques for direct DNA injection into human stem cells.

• A philosophical debate emerged about whether developing technologies like DNA synthesis constitutes meaningful progress toward transhumanism if they're not immediately applicable to human enhancement.

• The group discussed Xeotron's microfluidic picoarray DNA synthesizer technology and the potential for combining DMD photolithography for DNA synthesis with pyrosequencing in the same well.

• Participants shared research on systems biology approaches to understanding yeast aging models, which was highlighted as particularly significant for aging research.