[extropy-chat] Warwick: Could future computer viruses infect humans?

nsjacobus at yahoo.com nsjacobus at yahoo.com
Mon Nov 15 22:37:45 UTC 2004


Well, I think the idea is that eventually computer/human interfaces 
will consist of some sort of data-port that connects directly into the 
human nervous system. If so, then computer viruses could indeed have a 
deleterious effect on humans.


On Nov 15, 2004, at 3:33 PM, Adrian Tymes wrote:

--- Giu1i0 Pri5c0 <pgptag at gmail.com> wrote:
> Very interesting article on Silicon.com (found via
> KurzweilAI): Kevin
> Warwick, professor of cybernetics at Reading
> University, warned the
> day will come when computer viruses can infect
> humans as well as PCs.
> "We're looking at software viruses and biological
> viruses becoming one
> and the same," he said.

Umm...no.  Biological viruses require a physical
presence to infect; software viruses do not, being
pure information.

That said, it might possible for poorly-coded network
interfaces to start feeding bogus information to their
humans.  But one suspects that the security measures
required for a network interface that is intimately
linked to human brains would be on par with the
security measures in place at electric substations
controllable over the Internet - very very few of
which have been hacked successfully, despite their
much higher value than the almost disposable computers
that do get regularly hacked.

Or perhaps Mr. Warwick has just discovered, and been
confused by, the concept of "memes".
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Cheers,
Nige

--
  A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, 
butcher a hog, design a building, write a sonnet,  set a bone, comfort 
the dying, take orders, give orders, solve equations, pitch manure, 
program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die 
gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.

  -- Robert Heinlein




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