Imagine a future where we grow houses rather than build them. Where smartphones are living, clothing has opinions, and all human knowledge fits into a speck of DNA. A world where disease is a thing of the past, and the human lifespan is dramatically extended.

To achieve this, says Adrian Woolfson - founder of the genome writing company Genyro - we must transform biology into a predictive, programmable engineering material. That means decoding the generative grammar of DNA: the language of life itself. We will then be able to author genomes - and, if we choose, even rewrite our own.

We are at the cusp of a technological revolution, driven by the convergence of artificial intelligence and synthetic biology. Currently at the scribbling phase - writing the genomes of viruses, bacteria and yeast - we will eventually author the genomes of extinct and never-before-realised species. Life will become computable, detached from its past, and no longer bound by Darwinian evolution.

While offering extraordinary opportunities, this power also carries great risk and it is vital for everyone to understand what our collective future might hold. Genome writing can help preserve the planet, but may also undermine human nature and disrupt ecosystems. In this bold and visionary account, Woolfson provides a guide to how this astonishing new world might be realised and offers a moral compass to help us navigate it safely, wisely and ethically.