Re: Biofutures [was Re: Lanier essay of 2001.12.04]

From: Dossy (dossy@panoptic.com)
Date: Mon Dec 10 2001 - 18:08:09 MST


On 2001.12.10, Robert J. Bradbury <bradbury@aeiveos.com> wrote:
> By the time GE is this sophisticated there are many more problems
> to be worried about. E.g. GE to cause the death of individuals
> with specific genetic fingerprints (why wait until the next generation?).
> If we have the technology to develop such sophisticated weapons we
> also have the technology to defend against them. The question is
> whether we will learn our lessons and develop such defenses before
> they are required.

Back to my "war and porn" notion ... the money will be spent on
GE first to engineer men with larger penises and women with
bigger, firmer breasts ... and then the second largest spender
will be to weaponize GE. Money for researchers looking for
defenses against weaponized GE will be trivially small. Look
at funding for HIV/AIDS research. As large a number, (I'm
pulling this out of my ass -- beware!) I'd be willing to bet
a nickel that the number is dwarfed by the amount of money
that's spent on researching and developing war toys.

So, to answer the question: No, we won't learn our lessons,
and the defenses will be a quiet afterthought once it's all
too late.

-- Dossy

-- 
Dossy Shiobara                       mail: dossy@panoptic.com 
Panoptic Computer Network             web: http://www.panoptic.com/ 
  "He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own
    folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)


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