Double Helix Era

In Shanghai in 2026, a silent technological revolution is quietly reshaping the foundation of human civilization. DNA storage technology has moved from the laboratory to reality. Scientists have successfully encoded the precious images of the founding ceremony into tiny DNA fragments, achieving the "immortality" of information. This "life hard drive" with A, T, C and G as quaternary codes, with its unparalleled storage density and stability of more than ten thousand years, is becoming the ultimate solution to the global data explosion crisis. However, the high cost of synthesis and sequencing, as well as the slow reading and writing speed, still represent a huge gap between ideal and reality. At the same time, brain-computer interface technology is also making rapid breakthroughs. Artificial neural networks continuously simulate the cognitive process of the human brain, trying to reproduce the intelligence of life on silicon-based chips. But the technical bottleneck is equally obvious: how to make the machine truly "understand" rather than "simulate" consciousness? Two seemingly parallel technical routes began to converge under the wave of "BT-IT convergence". DNA is not only a storage medium, its programmability at the molecular level provides the possibility to develop a new architecture that integrates storage and calculation; and the progress of brain science has also brought light to the interpretation and manipulation of deeper information codes in DNA. This is an exploration of information, life and intelligence, and a "double helix" drive for mankind to find the next era for its own civilization. However, when technology touches the essence of life, where are the ethical boundaries?