Yeah, I guess if you just send them this specific genome for smallpox DNA[0] they might tell you to get lost. What I'm saying is that anyone who was awful like that would probably just go get a different disease in person. Historically people have managed that fine without having to learn version control. I mean, we have treatments for smallpox and a vaccine. My point being is that it's not useful to say "oh, it's too technical and I'm sure the DNA providers have some checks in place." I have never seen a god damned thing about what checks they are doing, and I'm nearly certain they are not that well regulated. I for sure know that there isn't a public accountability portal for these companies.
What makes me feel alright is that I think to do some damage is not a technical or money issue but an issue with taking a dive on the closest thing we have to the meaning of life and I'd hope that that study would be the sort of thing that keeps someone from being the worst kind of monster. I mean, we have a ton of tools out there to be awful, why this?
I guess what I'm saying is that to look at this set of problems and say "someone else probably has it handled" or assume anything we know is even slightly predictive of the future is silly. I think it's important for those that care to get an understanding of biology as we are now at an unprecedented point in existence where there's just not a way to feel too comfortable. Added benefit, the more people that get that understanding the closer we might get to yeast that eats plastic or mushrooms that make insulin.
What makes me feel alright is that I think to do some damage is not a technical or money issue but an issue with taking a dive on the closest thing we have to the meaning of life and I'd hope that that study would be the sort of thing that keeps someone from being the worst kind of monster. I mean, we have a ton of tools out there to be awful, why this?
I guess what I'm saying is that to look at this set of problems and say "someone else probably has it handled" or assume anything we know is even slightly predictive of the future is silly. I think it's important for those that care to get an understanding of biology as we are now at an unprecedented point in existence where there's just not a way to feel too comfortable. Added benefit, the more people that get that understanding the closer we might get to yeast that eats plastic or mushrooms that make insulin.
[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/NC_001611.1