WCGW
US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
41–50 of 131 posts
Re: US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
#42Now, I don't want to seem anti-science or anything, but this seems like a massive disaster just waiting to happen, in light of the incidents that led to this ban and also, even more to the point, the 2001 anthrax attacks.[1] Couldn't they at least restrict this research to labs far away from major population centers? The analogue with software development, I'd say, is when people periodically point out that nuclear p…
It is a massive disaster waiting to happen. But the massiveness of that disaster, or its impendingness, has very little to do with some people in Washington DC mouthing words about how you shouldn't do that. This is definitely one of those cases where I feel like a lot of people are demonstrating some very magical thinking about the effectiveness of regulations, with all due respect to those involved. Does Kim Jong U…
That's not the point of restricting research, though; the point of it is restricting research done by labs which are not bent on using biological weapons on human victims but allow them to fall into the wrong hands, or carelessly cause an incident with improper handling of the materials.
Re: US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
#43An informative series from pbs narrated by Jeff goldblum on YouTube: search for "dna episode 1 of 5 the secret of life" It's a great high level overview of dna sequencing from the discovery of its shape through the completion of the human genome project in 2000. I'm having trouble pasting a link, maybe someone could help me out.
Re: US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
#44Now, I don't want to seem anti-science or anything, but this seems like a massive disaster just waiting to happen, in light of the incidents that led to this ban and also, even more to the point, the 2001 anthrax attacks.[1] Couldn't they at least restrict this research to labs far away from major population centers? The analogue with software development, I'd say, is when people periodically point out that nuclear p…
It's possible that it's very difficult to engineer a virus that can do better than anything nature has come up with. Evolution has had billions of years to try all the attack vectors. A worst case 12 Monkeys-style disaster seems unlikely. But I'm ignorant of this topic. Without handwaving or pointing at the worst case, how much should we worry? Is there any evidence that a genetically enhanced virus can be devastatin…
"It's possible that it's very difficult to engineer corn that can resist pests better than anything nature has come up with. Evolution has had billions of years to try all the attack vectors. Widespread commercial use of genetically modified corn seems unlikely."
Re: US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't activating wildfire have been a complete disaster in the book? It's been a long time since I read that. The part about the guy's seizures freaked me out for a while.
"Wildfire" was the protocol for responding to the detection of the alien organism rather than the failsafe that wasn't.
oh, I thought wildfire was specifically the bombing that would have caused massive growth of the organism.
Re: US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
#46I don't trust people's due dilligence enough to be okay with this.
Edit: remember when Ebola was never supposed to leave the CDC fascility and a nurse was exposed to it and left the hospital? That's what happens when there's the highest level of scrutinity and security.
Re: US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe there is reason for concern w.r.t. modifications of flu viruses, for one thing. That is, they know what makes flu easily transmissible among humans, and they know a bit about how to alter nontransmissible viruses to be more so. Given the belief that things like the 1918 flu are believed to be viruses that made this jump on their own, it's quite reasonable to worry that we could do it in a lab.
Quite. I don't particularly want to find myself living in the midst of a real life remake of The Stand, nor anything close to it[1]. [1] I am clearly not here referring to the supernatural aspects.
At least the supernatural aspects would inject some meaning into what would otherwise be our usually farcical behavior.
Re: US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's possible that it's very difficult to engineer a virus that can do better than anything nature has come up with. Evolution has had billions of years to try all the attack vectors. A worst case 12 Monkeys-style disaster seems unlikely. But I'm ignorant of this topic. Without handwaving or pointing at the worst case, how much should we worry? Is there any evidence that a genetically enhanced virus can be devastatin…
Maybe. Evolution selects for virulence, not death toll. After all, your hosts can't spread you if they're dead.
> After all, your hosts can't spread you if they're dead
Arguable. Dead bodies can and do spread disease.
Re: US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
#49Sounds like we are multiplying the ways to cause species level extinction rather than reducing them.
Kewl.
Re: US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
#50Well, shit. That law was the only thing keeping the super-villains from going through with their plans..