

Viruses - Batteries Now Included - kkleiner
http://singularityhub.com/2009/05/07/viruses-batteries-now-included/

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swombat
Wow, I think this is the first article I read on singularity-hub that's so
blithely stupid (either that, or it's written for idiots).

Whilst I'm sure this is useful technology, underplaying the risks like that is
not respectful to your audience. Paragraphs like:

 _But wait, you say, you’re afraid of what these viruses might do if unleashed
on the world. Can’t they mutate into a terrible disease? Might they stop
building batteries and start building weapons of mass destruction? Couldn’t
these little electronic-minded viruses one day develop into_ gasp*
Decepticons™?*

...are stupid and seem to disregard 50 years of science fiction authors
thinking about this problem. No, Mr Saenz, that's not the main worry with
these - the main worry is that eventually a virus of this kind might mutate
into a "gray goo" plague. If you don't know what that is, you have no business
writing articles on a site called "singularity hub".

 _Let’s get the facts straight. These viruses are bacteriaphages, meaning they
hunt down and eat bacteria, not humans._

That's deeply worrying. Bacteria and humans are not all that different, and
the human body harbours large quantities of friendly and essential bacteria.

 _In short, there’s no reason to be afraid of these engineered viruses, they
just want to build you batteries. Won’t you let them try?_

Well, that really depends on which bacteria they want to make batteries out
of. My bacteria? Buzz off.

Now, I'm sure the scientists behind these are aware of this risk and are
taking every reasonable precaution, so this is not an attack on the technology
itself - just on this badly written article.

~~~
J_McQuade
Yes, sometimes I think that people get so carried away with trying to infuse
their writing with character that they forget to check if they have one first!
I just found the piece annoying, myself.

Though snide remarks aside, while I agree that the tone of the article is
patronising and not at all befitting of even a semi-serious piece of writing,
I think too much has been made of the dangers of genetic engineering in the
past, and actually find myself appreciating the implied "It's still just a
blooming virus!" stance. I mean, surely a virus with altered genetic material
is about as likely to wildly mutate as one that's entirely 'natural' (whatever
that means)?

There is no doubt that such a virus could be dangerous if it had been
engineered, say, to be more resilient or to reproduce very rapidly, but I
think people get so worried about the scary things that genetic engineering
_could_ do (if it wanted to) that they expect it to do so regardless of what
is intended. The same could be said of the public perception of science in
general, sadly enough - look at the way people have reacted to the LHC.

~~~
swombat
_Sometimes I think that people get so carried away with trying to infuse their
writing with character that they forget to check if they have one first._

Brilliant quote, love it.

