Biotechnology is dismantling the fundamental unity of life

In today’s social media world, some modern day prophets are signalling the end of times, others are envisioning a time of healing. Echoing this, mainstream media are banging the drum of biotechnology, promising an age of health and longevity. The rush to implement biotechnology in every phase of existence is on. This article will ask whether the promises have lost touch with everyday experience and scientific reality. To answer this question, we will look at disappointing trial data and just published groundbreaking research. We will examine genetic organisation from the perspective of physical principles known to govern universal laws of nature. We will take Einstein’s perspective that ordinary experience, accessible to all of us, can teach us fundamental truths and initiate healing. We will conclude that biotechnology experimentation is the biggest misstep that humanity has ever contemplated. It may yet prove the prophets of doom right, but at the same time understanding the true nature of this mistake can open up a new channel of consciousness-based medicine that will usher in an age of health, peace and prosperity.

The gold standard of biotech medicine—drugs for the healthy

A headline in last week’s UK Telegraph says it all: “Healthy middle-aged people offered Alzheimer’s drug in world-first trial”. Trial participants aged 55 years or older with no history of memory loss are being offered a drug called trontinemab to test whether it can prevent dementia. A drug which in the near future all healthy people might be swayed to take out of fear of old age. This is aimed at the central profit motive of the biotechnology industry—an expensive drug that even the healthy feel compelled to take. Trontinemab contains a protein invented by Roche called the brainshuttle which tricks the blood brain barrier into letting the drug enter the highly protected central nervous system (the brain), where it attacks amyloid plaques known to be associated with the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

In a recent phase 3 trial of a similar plaque reducing drug called donanemab 24% of recipients experienced brain swelling. In one quarter of these, the condition was serious enough to cause headaches, confusion, dizziness and vision changes. In all, 1.6% (3 out of 200) were hospitalised and 0.3% (3 out of 1000) died. More worrying, among those trial participants with genes known to be associated with the development of Alzheimer’s (i.e. those who were judged most at risk), 40% experienced brain swelling and 50% brain bleeds. Although donanemab was between 30% to 80% able to reduce plaque, it turned out that this did not actually cure Alzheimer’s, only slightly slowing the progression of the disease solely for those participants with early mild cases. The administration of the drug required a high level of medical care exceeding a year in length. The cost of donanemab per patient is around US$6-10,000 per month. Reviews rightly judged these results ‘underwhelming’ relative to the high risks and costs and the low effect sizes. They could have gone further and added ‘damaging’.

Globally, as of 2026, there are in excess of 6,000 trials estimated to be under way of microbiological medicines and vaccines that modify genes or alter pathways of gene expression. These span gene transfer, gene editing, gene transcription editing, gene or immune stimulation and cell-based genetic modifications. As we have discussed previously, these have been accompanied by high rates of adverse effects and low rates of efficacy, yet somehow there is a naive presumption that gene editing is the future of medicine and that very soon scientists will ‘get it right’, provided that risky and costly human trials are allowed to proceed. Is this realistic or even safe, and what could be going wrong?

Genetic interventions are not safe

Behind this massive endeavour is an assumption that just about everything that we are, comes down to our genes and that genes can be safely edited or altered to make life more healthy. Underpinning this view is the false understanding that genes are solely arranged and constructed through random evolutionary events. In other words, genes create life, but only by chance. Biotech scientists believe they can improve our odds. They are like punters at the race course who think they understand horses, only to be proved wrong time and again. When it comes to understanding genetic organisation and function in its broadest possible terms, too much has been left off the table. Instead of the miracle of life being a chance event, it is the ultimate outcomes of biotechnologies and gene editing that are proving fraught with risk.

Conscious attention modulates genetic expression

We don’t know how genetic structures support the expression of our consciousness nor consequently how genetic interventions will affect our capacity to think, our personality, our mental stability and our relationship with reality. There are sound reasons to suppose that all these might be negatively affected by gene therapies in all their iterations. A paper published in Nature on 2 September 2026 is entitled “Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality“. Among 1 million participants, it identified 1,260 genetic variants associated with how people think, feel and behave. These accounted for only around 5-10% of the variance in the so-called big five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), but the study concluded that “the genetic architecture of personality is widely relevant to human experience”. In other words, gene therapy in all its forms will have unintended and unpredictable psychological consequences—it will affect the expression of consciousness.

A groundbreaking paper published on 17 August 2026 in Nature Human Behaviour entitled “Voluntary attention regulates acute immune responses in humans“ turns the supposed relationship between genes and mind on its head. It subtly questions the paradigm of biotechnology that genes control our lives including our consciousness. The study investigated the effects of attention on our immune response to inflammation. Much of modern medicine is based on the perceived need to reduce pain by pharmacologically blocking sensory attention from injury. This is popularly supposed to facilitate healing. However, the study led to an unexpected and counter intuitive finding. It compared ‘the effect of allowing our attention to feel uncomfortable skin inflammation’ to ‘methods to distract attention away from the injury site’. It found that directing attention towards bodily sensations during acute inflammation regulates an immediate healing immune response, but distracting the attention increases inflammation. The attention effect was consistent across 90% of participants with an effect size 50% higher than distraction. Moreover, using a local anaesthetic to relieve pain at the swelling site reduced the healing effect of attention. These findings suggest that efficient biological control of immune responses is facilitated by conscious attention. In turn, we know that our immune response is guided by genetic regulation, leading to the conclusion that attention directly facilitates genetic expression and function.

The power of attention is ancient wisdom being rediscovered in the modern age

This conclusion might seem revolutionary to modern day scientists, but in fact Ayurveda, the ancient Indian healing system still widely practiced today, prioritises attention as a healing methodology. Closing the eyes and allowing the attention to rest easily on discomfort harnesses the body’s healing resources. This can be readily confirmed at home. Moreover Yoga exercises are recommended to be accomplished with quiet attention on the parts of the body being stretched. Ayurveda takes this further, establishing the principle that consciousness is primary and matter secondary.

Fortunately there is a growing realisation among some evolutionary biologists that the conscious decisions we take play a greater role in evolution than previously thought. A wave of papers and essays are re-evaluating the work of Darwin’s rival Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who thought that giraffes had long necks because successive generations reached for the highest leaves and passed long neck genetic traits on to their offspring. A growing number of studies encompassing worms to whales and everything in between are showing that behaviours in this life affect future generations, and when we say ‘behaviours’ we actually know these result from conscious decisions. In other words, our consciousness has the power to influence our genes.

The hidden unity of life

This is consistent with fundamental scientific principles. Physics provides a general overarching framework to understand how laws of nature work. At the heart of the cosmos are principles of symmetry—diversity rests on unity. We are well aware of this in our everyday lives. It does not matter where we go or what time of day it is, we are subject to gravity. Gravitational laws are uniformly present everywhere. By virtue of unity, natural law operates at every point in creation simultaneously. In fact, the unified level of natural law creates space-time itself. Despite the emergence of the infinite variety we see all around us, unity remains guiding diversity.

At four or five years of age the young Einstein had a life altering experience. His father gave him a compass whilst he was recovering from an illness in bed. Einstein pondered the hidden force field that moved the needle. He later wrote “I can still remember that this experience made a deep and lasting impression on me. Something deep and hidden had to be behind things.” This began Einstein’s lifelong search for the unity behind diversity

Something closely parallel happens in our physiology. Our 37 trillion cells each have identical DNA guiding the immense array of physiological processes. In fact, the preservation of the uniformity of our unique personal DNA is a central aim of our immune system which quietly orchestrates trillions of cellular DNA repairs each day. This ensures the integrity and continuity of our DNA. Our diverse physiological processes rest on the uniformity of our personal DNA in every cell. As is the macrocosm, so is the microcosm. As is the cosmos, so is the individual. Behind the connecting principle that joins our trillions of cells together into a single individual is the grand unity of the Cosmos

What is the nature of unity?

Since unity creates the space-time framework of the universe, it is not an object that we can see or touch. It is truly abstract, the whole that is more than the parts. So if we can’t see unity, how, like Einstein, can we even conceive of it? Our sense of underlying unity emerges from our own Self. Throughout the ages poets and spiritual seekers have recounted deep self-referral experiences of unity. Grasping the full significance of unity is solely an act of self-referral consciousness, however anyone can get an inkling of this through our personal sense of continuous identity. Consciousness is the ultimate source of continuity or connectedness in our physiology and the sense of identity in our psychology. It is also the source of our capacity to grasp ultimate truth. Moreover, as we have discussed elsewhere on Substack, consciousness plays a fundamental role in physical theory.

This article is pointing to a salutary conclusion, gene editing is playing with fire. Genes support the expression of consciousness. Animals have genes but they cannot express their consciousness as humans can. There are structures and functions of genes peculiar to humans that are vital for the expression of higher consciousness. The exact genetic arrangements that unlock unique human abilities are unknown to science. Wholesale editing of genes and the creation of synthetic genetic sequences is in no way inherently safe, it is not just physically mutagenic, it is psychologically destructive.

New dangers and new solutions

Here at Substack we publish legacy articles and conclusions outlining a new paradigm of biology and genetics. In our sister outlet HatchardReport.com we cover the nitty gritty of official data releases and the corresponding conclusions of scientific papers along with the implications for regulation and legislation. During the last fortnight we have published three articles: “A dirty secret exposed: Cosmetics and women’s cancer risk“, “We are crossing the final frontier“ and “Red Flag: NZ mortality up in 2026“. Together they provide more information about a crisis in mental and physical health related to the use of gene technology. Particularly since 2019, it is becoming more and more difficult to isolate our mind and body from synthetic gene technology. It has come to dominate the food sector, medicine, agriculture, veterinary, cosmetics and the environment. It has produced new disease variants. The collective onslaught of biotechnology does not just expose our physiology and psychology to novel influences, but to snippets of genetic information capable of taking control of some vital physiological processes and disrupting others, as we warned in our January 2025 article biotechnology can control human behaviour. Look around, chaotic social and political conditions and high levels of illness are not a long way from the results of studies documenting adverse effects of gene modifications and therapies in all their forms. We need to do something to counter this and very soon. We should be choosing organics, truly natural products (not synthetic copies) and being careful with our product choices.

The study we cited above on the power of attention points to an entirely new direction for medicine. The practice of transcendental meditation is derived from the Vedic tradition and especially revived in the second half of the twentieth century when it was popularised in the west by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This practice has been shown to create a deep metabolic rest accompanied by brain coherence as measured by EEG. Regular practice increases the sense of self and supercharges the power of the attention. Over 600 studies show that it unlocks healing across the entire physiology to an unprecedented degree.

For example a 1987 study of the health insurance statistics of 2000 meditators entitled “Medical care utilization and the transcendental meditation program” found hospital admissions per 1000 were lower for the TM group than the norm for all of 17 major medical treatment categories, including 55.4% less for benign and malignant tumours 87.3% less for heart disease, 30.4% less for all infectious diseases, 30.6% less for all mental disorders, and 87.3% less for diseases of the nervous system. Similar falls were recorded for outpatient and doctor visits. The number of inpatient days halved. In other words, transcendental meditation practitioners had less incidence of illness and recovered faster.

Our discussion on the power of unity also points to a new direction for preventative approaches to public health. The same cosmic conscious power that links together our 37 trillion cells links together the fabric of society. We discussed this at length in our articles “The Long Read: What is a Human Biofield? and more recently in “The Structure of Consciousness“. The implications for how we govern society, ensure world peace and foster knowledge are profound.