What you see in the picture are depictions of “translation”, the process of translating mRNA into proteins. Based on AlphaFold’s post-2020 predictions and gene protein structures in the Protein Data Bank, artist Jansword Zhu captures the process of genetic transcription and replication through poetic and aesthetic mediation. Fascinated by the artist’s reimagining of protein structures through their constant intra-actions on a molecular level, this proposal explores the self-organization of genes as a model for reimagining political systems through the lens of critical posthumanism and Daoism. Drawing parallels between the decentralized, adaptive logic of DNA and the principles of Decentralized Autonomous Organisations (DAOs), I argue that the biological processes of genetic regulation, replication, and mutation offer a speculative framework for rethinking sovereignty, governance, and collective agency.
At the molecular scale, genes operate as a self-organizing system, balancing autonomy and intra-dependence through mechanisms like gene expression and horizontal gene transfer. These processes challenge traditional hierarchies, suggesting a model of distributed intelligence and adaptive resilience. Scaling this up, I propose the DAO of Genome—a political imaginary that reimagines governance as a decentralized, self-organisational system responsive to environmental and social pressures. This echoes Daoist cosmology’s notion of spontaneous order, where natural harmony emerges from the interplay of autonomous yet intra-connected forces.
Zhu’s Transenlight project enriches this framework by highlighting the transcendent moment of translation, where genetic information (mRNA) is translated into proteins, materialising divine information in the physical world. This mirrors the speculative potential of the DAO of Genome, where abstract political ideas become tangible, self-organizing systems. Zhu’s digital ecosystem of Meta-Texts further bridges micro and
macro scales, offering a vision of an alternative universe that is both a tribute to the unseen infrastructures of our existence and a fabulation for future possibilities.
Through this exploration, I aim to contribute to the symposium’s investigation of how life processes at different scales inform and deform one another, offering a speculative yet grounded vision of political organization rooted in the logic of life itself.
This talk is commissioned as part of ici Berlin's symposium Scales of Life: From Basal Cognition to Planetary Intelligence, featured with Deborah Coen, Michael Levin and Thomas Moynihan. This symposium is organised by Maria Dębińska, Christoph F.E. Holzhey, Magdalena Krysztoforska, Julia Sánchez-Dorado and Ben Woodard.