[ExI] bond villain?

Wed Feb 1 16:03:19 UTC 2023

…> On Behalf Of Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat
Subject: Re: [ExI] bond villain?

On Tue, Jan 31, 2023 at 9:33 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> > wrote:

Adrian you are perhaps our best local authority on viruses.

>…I seem to recall there are more knowledgeable folks on this list…

Ja, Rafal has formal education in it, but Adrian you are here regularly, he is a periodic (most welcome) visitor.  

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the thread is that it wouldn’t require a lot of biology knowledge or equipment to pull off the experiment.  It doesn’t take a Pfizer or a Dr. Evil:

Little old ladies do directed evolution in their own flower gardens.  Fortunately they use azaleas rather than viruses, but many of the same principles apply.

>…To engineer something like COVID?  That isn't how you'd do it.  Think more "personal microbiology lab" (a one person version of the Chinese lab accused of making COVID); don't bother with bats…

Somehow that comment isn’t the least bit reassuring.

>…If you really want to kill a lot of people, there are easier ways.  COVID is not, despite the hype, coming anywhere near causing the extinction of humanity…

Nor is that one.

>…And most people who want to commit mass murder aren't in it for truly global genocide; they want more targeted death…

Or that one.  This is a big planet, with people of all kinds of insane motives.

>…Fortunately, most of those with the motivation to do this, lack the skills.  It is as if the very act of gaining the skills tended to defuse the hatreds and perceptions of the world that might fuel this.  Mass education might be our best defense against anyone trying this…

Ooooookay then, Adrian.  I think I will go off and be depressed.  I have long worried about computer virus generators taking down the internet, but now I realize there damn well is a biological equivalent virus generator, and some people damn well can figure out how to use it.

spike

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