Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
1–10 of 42 posts
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#2The same capabilities that are necessary to test defenses against chemical and biological attacks also prepare the way for offensive applications. If party A doesn't trust B, they are naturally wary of B's calls for A to halt defensive research. If B doesn't trust A, they are naturally wary that said "defensive" research is merely a precursor to or cover for weaponization. Party Z may later come along and use the research of parties A-Y to their own ends (e.g. Aum Shinrikyo cribbing the chemistry of nerve agents from open chemistry literature, poisoning people for their own weird reasons.)
I personally don't think that DARPA actually wants famine-causing bioweapons. The US has a large nuclear arsenal should it ever want to inflict mass destruction on the world, and its incentives align against making mass destruction cheaper or more accessible. But I can also understand why countries the US is hostile to may be less assured than I am. I can also understand the point of critics who worry that if this sort of research becomes normal and openly published, results may be later weaponized by some group, maybe a group that's not even a nation state.
If you're interested in issues like this, I can recommend the book "A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare" by Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman. Caveats: I found some technical errors in areas where I have knowledge (chemistry). It goes beyond documented history into speculation in places. But it's what first introduced me to the complicated issues around trust and Janus-like defensive-offensive R&D in this area; those have remained useful insights.
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#3If you can make insects that can deliver viruses to save plants you can use insects to destroy food supplies of "enemies" and cause famine.
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#4[deleted]
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#5If you can make insects that can deliver viruses to save plants you can use insects to destroy food supplies of "enemies" and cause famine.
About 18-20 years ago I remember reading a thread where a poster basically said (as a counter to China) that the US has developed a blight that could basically wipe out all the rice in the world. It would be deployed via Mosquito and according to the poster had the ability to spread quickly and leave over 3 billion people without their main staple of food. Not a single shot would need to be fired. Within 6 months half the worlds population would be gone.
I figure a day where this will be a reality is completely possible if not already.
Quite disturbing....
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#6The same capabilities that are necessary to test defenses against chemical and biological attacks also prepare the way for offensive applications. If party A doesn't trust B, they are naturally wary of B's calls for A to halt defensive research. If B doesn't trust A, they are naturally wary that said "defensive" research is merely a precursor to or cover for weaponization. Party Z may later come along and use the res…
Significant difference is that nuclear weapons are not deniable, bioweapons are.
The United States (and allies) have already used rain seeding, river damns, and a number of other techniques for damaging adversary nation's economic and agricultural abilities. It's even a relatively common practice in geopolitics (India uses the Indus river as a carrot/stick against Pakistan).
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#7If you can make insects that can deliver viruses to save plants you can use insects to destroy food supplies of "enemies" and cause famine.
About 18-20 years ago I remember reading a thread where a poster basically said (as a counter to China) that the US has developed a blight that could basically wipe out all the rice in the world. It would be deployed via Mosquito and according to the poster had the ability to spread quickly and leave over 3 billion people without their main staple of food. Not a single shot would need to be fired. Within 6 months hal…
> Within 6 months half the worlds population would be gone.
Within 6 months, a country with nuclear weapons is forced in a desperate situation. What could go wrong?
Is there really a point to such a scenario between nuclear powers? It doesn't make much sense to me. The US might as well launch all its warheads from the start.
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#8Who spends more? DARPA on weaponized insects, or The Gates Foundation on eradicating malaria by controlling mosquitos?
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#9Really? How many insects to genetically modify the Ukraine's wheat? I, too, wonder what they're doing.
This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a buzz.
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#10I kind of developed a hunch that maybe the Zika outbreak might've been cooked up in some lab in Siberia or Mongolia, and got dumped into South America as a warning shot. But honestly, who knows?
Everything feels like the rumblings of full-spectrum warfare these days.