APPLYNG IA TO DECODE LIFE: FROM HOMO SAPIENS TO HOMO GENIUS

The conference “Applying AI to Decode Life: From Homo sapiens to Homo Genius” will take place on November 4, 2026, delivered by Oscar Pastor, University Professor, Director of the R&D Group in Software Production Methods (PROS), and Director of Internationalization and Transfer at the Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (VRAIN) of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV).

He earned his PhD in Computer Science in 1992, after working as a researcher at HP-Labs (Bristol, United Kingdom), where he received a predoctoral research award in recognition of his work. In 2016, he was awarded the Peter P. Chen Prize, the highest international recognition in his area. After years of work in Conceptual Modeling and Information Systems Engineering, his teaching activity focuses on:

• Information Systems Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering and Genomic Data Science
• Conceptual modeling applied to bioinformatics and precision genomic medicine

He currently leads a research line that applies conceptual modeling in bioinformatics and biomedical engineering.

Artificial Intelligence, the Human Genome, and Evolution

The conference focuses on analyzing how Homo sapiens faces one of the most exciting challenges in its history with the support of state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence technologies: decoding the programming language of life and understanding and manipulating the human genome to adapt it to our needs.

During the talk, the foundations and implications of this challenge and its profound philosophical, anthropological, and scientific implications will be presented, which involve “playing god” through genome manipulation, opening new perspectives for medicine and human evolution. The advances toward engineering life will be highlighted, where genetic editing, especially with technologies such as CRISPR, and the combination of predictive knowledge (Machine Learning-oriented) and explanatory knowledge linked to explainable AI (XAI) are transforming medicine and raising ethical and existential questions that we must face with hope.

This thread of discussion leads us to confront dilemmas that have accompanied Homo sapiens since the beginning of our existence, such as immortality, genetic modification, or the future of the human species, and introduces us to a new Renaissance that gives rise to a new hominid: Homo Genius: from Homo sapiens to Homo genius.

Program:

Information: 

• Date: November 4, 2026
• Access: Free entry until full capacity
• Entrance: West gate of Calle Menor at the Museu de les Ciències (next to the Hemisfèric)
• Live streaming: The session will be available via the audiovisual channels of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències and its YouTube channel