>
> It should be noted that it is not obvious at all
> that an IL-4 smallpox
> would be a huge threat to humans - it could be, it
> could be just as
> troublesome as smallpox or it could be *less*
> troublesome.
Good point--but whichever is the case, the happy boys
at USAMRID will soon find out--and if it happens to be
less troublesome, why, they'll fix that right quick.
john marlow
--- Anders Sandberg <asa@nada.kth.se> wrote:
> "Michael S. Lorrey" <mlorrey@datamann.com> quoted:
>
> > The incident highlights how easy it could be for
> some with
> > bio-engineering knowledge to create a murderous
> virus for which there
> > would be no cure or effective
> > vaccine, New Scientist said.
>
> Well, to make a very murderous virus from scratch
> isn't easy - it
> would take a lot of trial and error or careful
> planning to really come
> up with something nasty. But now somebody has done
> the trial and error
> job. I think we need not worry much about maniacs
> coming up with truly
> new stuff, but rather applying already known bad
> stuff.
>
> It should be noted that it is not obvious at all
> that an IL-4 smallpox
> would be a huge threat to humans - it could be, it
> could be just as
> troublesome as smallpox or it could be *less*
> troublesome. It all seem
> to depend on some higher order properties of the
> immune system.
>
> > It suggests tougher vetting of research proposals;
> a greater effort
> > to train students in biological subjects about
> potential dangers
> > arising from lab work; and encouraging greater
> openness among
> > biologists to discuss the misuse of genetic
> engineering.
>
> The problem with this case is that none of the
> proposed solutions
> would really help. It was not an expected result at
> all, and
> presumably any panel of experts that studied the
> research proposal
> would not a priori be able to say that it could be
> dangerous. You can
> protect yourself against expected dangers, and you
> can add safeguards
> against unexpected dangers; none of the above
> solutions (except for
> increasing awareness to some extent) will fix that.
>
> --
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Anders Sandberg
> Towards Ascension!
> asa@nada.kth.se
> http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
> GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/*
> f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:56:18 MDT