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Guest Talk with John Bissell | In Search of a Protocol for Matter (Dis)Assembly at Human Scale

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Guest Talk with John Bissell | In Search of a Protocol for Matter (Dis)Assembly at Human Scale
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John Bissell, CEO of Origin Materials, argues that the chemical industry lacks a robust protocol for developing new technologies and materials, unlike the highly predictable building-block system used for mass chemical production. He traces this to the computational intractability of quantum mechanics at human scale, illustrates it through the empirically-discovered Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis, and surveys partial solutions like click chemistry, electrochemistry, synthetic biology, and Origin's own 'mechanical layer' approach of shifting material variability into structural engineering rather than new chemistry.

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