Of course it's bioengineering. Nanotech might piggyback and play a role in biotech/bio-based systems, but let's not be ridiculous... :-)
Brad Arnold - 13 years ago
Individuals can now construct highly contagious extremely lethal virus. A bioterrorist pandemic could make the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic (which killed more people than all wars combined) look like a picnic. One in twenty people are a psychopath. As an example, by adding one easily available gene (IL-4) to common small pox, you can create a virus that is over 99% lethal, and much more contagious. In today's extremely mobile society, a highly contagious virus would diffuse like wild-fire, especially using a Dark Winter attack which an individual could easily accomplish. Randomly removing one in ten people from a high technology society would cause it to collapse, plus our economy is now based upon just-in-time inventory unlike 1918 when most people lived on farms and were relatively self-sufficient. Frankly, such a catastrophic event is not only vastly underestimated by our security establishment, but virtually unimaginable to most people. Mankind has eaten from the Tree of Life. The result is predictable, particularly since knowledge of genomic is cosmopolitan (as is most dual-use higher learning in our naive society).
CygnusX1 - 13 years ago
How can I possibly choose but one of these? Hopefully the answer must be all of the above!
Brenden Sommerhalder - 13 years ago
Nanotechnology is likely to lead to each of the other options.
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Of course it's bioengineering. Nanotech might piggyback and play a role in biotech/bio-based systems, but let's not be ridiculous... :-)
Individuals can now construct highly contagious extremely lethal virus. A bioterrorist pandemic could make the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic (which killed more people than all wars combined) look like a picnic. One in twenty people are a psychopath. As an example, by adding one easily available gene (IL-4) to common small pox, you can create a virus that is over 99% lethal, and much more contagious. In today's extremely mobile society, a highly contagious virus would diffuse like wild-fire, especially using a Dark Winter attack which an individual could easily accomplish. Randomly removing one in ten people from a high technology society would cause it to collapse, plus our economy is now based upon just-in-time inventory unlike 1918 when most people lived on farms and were relatively self-sufficient. Frankly, such a catastrophic event is not only vastly underestimated by our security establishment, but virtually unimaginable to most people. Mankind has eaten from the Tree of Life. The result is predictable, particularly since knowledge of genomic is cosmopolitan (as is most dual-use higher learning in our naive society).
How can I possibly choose but one of these? Hopefully the answer must be all of the above!
Nanotechnology is likely to lead to each of the other options.