It seems that it should be possible to use something like DNA to seed
nanomachines, and cybernetic interfaces. Not the hollywood version but
versatile, scalable micro-controllable organisms. Beginning with the
requirements to reverse diseases like Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and cancer
would give us one hell of a blueprint to lay out an augmentation roadmap.
It could remove many of the barriers of quality control and production,
for instance we might be able to produce something very useful today but
in a shabbly fashioned kludge and it still could cost an arbitrarily
huge sum. Take that thing or idea and remove those barriers. Perhaps
then our consumption/reproduction mania would be a little more obvious,
but I would also be wary of human error, ignorance, and megalomania.
On 5/21/2010 9:37 PM, archytas wrote:
The news of computer created DNA and thus the human creation of life
is a bit late. The chemistry has been with us for some time. So far,
all I've seen in the media has the same old form - religious idiots
and paranoid ethicists who don't give a damn about the world really,
but want to spout anti-erudition as though this is clever. My feeling
is that this stuff is as significant as the agricultural revolution
and probably more so.
The eventual stuff that interests me is the potential to change
perception through biological means and build something worthier than
humanity rather than just a life of hanging about until Rapture (my
bet is the velocoraptors will get the Xtians) or evolution's next
catastrophe appreciating art or erotica.
