When Biology Becomes Software
Bruce Schneier
Crypto-Gram
September 15, 2019
https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram/archives/2019/0915.html#cg22
[Wet chem labs are curiosities now, with compututational models far less
messy, faster, and above all cheaper.
[Australia's own Greg Egan played with some of this is in his
'autoverse', in Permutation City (1994).
[But that was sci-fi, right?]
...
>As synthetic biology "programming" reaches the complexity of
traditional computer programming, the risks of computer systems will
transfer to biological systems. The difference is that biological
systems have the potential to cause much greater, and far more lasting,
damage than computer systems.
>
>Programmers write software through trial and error. Because computer
systems are so complex and there is no real theory of software,
programmers repeatedly test the code they write until it works properly.
...
>Unfortunately, the software solution of making lots of mistakes and
fixing them as you go doesn't work in biology.
...
>Inadvertent or intentional release of these newly coded "programs" may
result in pathogens of expanded host range (just think swine flu) or
organisms that wreck delicate ecological balances.
...
>Unlike computer software, there's no way so far to "patch" biological
systems once released to the wild, although researchers are trying to
develop one. Nor are there ways to "patch" the humans (or animals or
crops) susceptible to such agents. Stringent biocontainment helps, but
no containment system provides zero risk.
>
>Opportunities for mischief and malfeasance often occur when expertise
is siloed, fields intersect only at the margins, and when the gathered
knowledge of small, expert groups doesn't make its way into the larger
body of practitioners who have important contributions to make.
...
--
Roger Clarke mailto:[email protected]
T: +61 2 6288 6916 http://www.xamax.com.au http://www.rogerclarke.com
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
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