Does this funding contradict the biological weapons treaty?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_Weapons_Conventio...
I got it - the system could be used in multiple ways so that the weapons aspect is deniable.
Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
21–30 of 42 posts
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#22I 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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-spectrum_dominance
Humans literally are not good enough at biochemistry to have created Zika.
Humans literally are not good enough at biochemistry to have created small pox.
So what? That doesn't preclude innoculating and incubating hosts as carriers, and spreading it around.
literally
literally
literallyRe: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#23Really? 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.
With so many crops engineered to withstand a particular herbicide like glyphosate, how likely is it that this standardization also creates a single bio profile that can be targeted?
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
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).
> 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. Would you provide more information in the form of a reliable source?
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
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).
> 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. Would you provide more information in the form of a reliable source?
"Operation Popeye (Project Controlled Weather Popeye / Motorpool / Intermediary-Compatriot) was a highly classified weather modification program in Southeast Asia during 1967–1972. The cloud seeding operation during the Vietnam War ran from March 20, 1967 until July 5, 1972 in an attempt to extend the monsoon season." [1]
"After World War II, the U.S. military bombed dams in North Korea and North Vietnam to destroy the communist governments’ electricity and irrigation infrastructure. This was, until the Iran-Iraq War, the final occurrence of such soggy tactics. In 1977 the Geneva Conventions specifically outlawed the targeting of water infrastructure in wartime." [2]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Popeye [2] https://medium.com/war-is-boring/dam-warfare-3da6ee24518a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Vietnam%27s_dikes
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#26The 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…
If they wanted to counter a biological weapons attack on food crops, they would be creating a detection network, a facility to produce a specific compound to counter the threat, and a delivery network comprising of dusting aircraft.
They would NOT be creating mosquito-delivered viruses. Through public research. Now their enemies have access to the same technology too. What's the fucking point? To kickstart a biological weapons race?
IMHO the US needs to put a cap on the emerging bioweapons race right now. Academics can be part of it, please deny developing dual-use technologies like this, which is obviously single-use. The world is going to become a horrifying place to live in if this trend continuous the way it's set.
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#27The 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).
[deleted]
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#28Link to the Science editorial:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/10/crop-protecting-insec...
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Humans literally are not good enough at biochemistry to have created Zika.
Humans literally are not good enough at biochemistry to have created small pox. So what? That doesn't preclude innoculating and incubating hosts as carriers, and spreading it around. literally literally literally
Dickhead.
Re: Darpa Is Making Insects That Can Deliver Bioweapons, Scientists Claim
#30Who spends more? DARPA on weaponized insects, or The Gates Foundation on eradicating malaria by controlling mosquitos?
Malaria is the reason settler colonialism failed in Africa. If you remove malaria, Africa will be inevitably invaded by colonial settlers.
To substantiate your point - that's also what I read (specifically regarding sub-saharan Africa). South Africa is the only exception due to it being much more elevated.
Source: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prisoners-Geography-Everything-Glob...