>>>>Biting... Who is Dr. Venter?
>>>
>>>
>>>Some would call him a business genius. Others a scientific marvel. I call him a most dangerous man.
>>>
>>>He's the scientist who led the team toward a new methodology of decoding the human genome based on a complex mathematical algorithm which takes tiny sequenced bits and reassembles them into the original genetic structure. It was the technology that allowed mankind to map the human genome in 2002, and some 80 million genes from all manner of plant, animal and virus since then, and today allows the mapping of any genome in about 2 hours on a $1,000 device that's the size of a microwave oven. This technological breakthrough allowed the easy "analog to digital" side of the equation (reading the chemistry and converting that DNA information to binary bits in a computer).
>>>
>>>THEN...
>>>
>>>He then went on from there to develop technologies, processes and procedures, which enabled him to take that binary data stored in a computer, and create "synthetic" DNA sequences by assembling them together as they exist in the computer. This allowed the "digital to analog" conversion. That process was later refined, and there is now a method to do this very easily in a few hours' time.
>>>
>>>He used an early version of that now refined digital to analog conversion to create the first "synthetic life" by creating an artificial DNA strand of approximately 1.1 million pieces of genetic code, which was then "injected" into a yeast cell. The synthetic structure was designed to supplant and destroy the yeast cell's natural DNA, which it did in short order, resulting in proteins being created which are not from the original yeast's genetic code, but from the new, synthetic DNA.
>>>
>>>This proved that all physical bodily life is the result of a software process creating its own hardware. The genetic code within the DNA instructs the proteins which read it continually how to manufacture more proteins.
>>>
>>>He now wants to use that "digital to analog" process to create protein robots which study how various genes operate, and how combinations operate to create proteins. Given that we have about 80 million that we know of, and Dr. Venter's predicting there will be 400 to 500 million total that are found, it is an absolutely impossible task to iterate through so much analog data. So, these protein robot gene manufacturing systems will be self-replicating, taking instructions from their genetic programming on what to manufacture, how to test it, and how to signal back to the digital sensors their findings. By iterating through large DNA segments where this data is programmed into, the iteration can be done exponentially by the cells self-replicating and conducting their work in parallel.
>>>
>>>It's absolutely frightening what he's on about. I would argue it's the most frightening thing this world has faced from man.
>>
>>But....
>>
>>Are we just trying to recreate ourselves.
>>
>>longevity?
>>No illiness?
>>???
>
>
>Good question. He talks about fuel. New food sources. And things like astronauts on inter-planetary journeys taking years having augmented organs which manufacture vitamins, enzymes, proteins, the essential things they need from some kind of less palatable, but longer lasting food source, even taking in CO2 and light as their energy source. That all sounds great. And if that's all it's used for ... fantastic. :-)
>
>He's already modified a form of oil producing algae that today must be harvested and crushed to squeeze out the oil. Their modifications cause the algae to continuously pump out the oil they produce, thereby leaving them alive and at full maturity for longer, producing oil without the need for squeezing equipment. Exxon has poured $600 million into the program, which they believe can create a completely neutral carbon fuel source of a convention oil base.
>
>Beyond that, he talks about creating artificial life forms. I don't know if he's talking about trees that grow their branches naturally into the shape of 2x4 boards, or if it's something else, but when I hear the words "artificial life forms" or "synthetic life forms" ... it's scary. He's already demonstrated that the introduced artificial DNA strands were able to completely take over the protein synthesis of the yeast cells.

Reminds me of Isaac Asimov's "Caves of Steel" Genetic altered yeast as the only food source.

On what larger scale would such a virus be able to be created by some designing men, or a hostile government employing scientists, or whatever other accidental cause?
>
>Medical scientists warn us of viral pandemics that could wipe out 30% of the world's population in a matter of weeks. How much more an engineered virus released without warning, without a stop at an airport checkpoint, where someone unwittingly just walks in and releases it in a crowded mall, thereby sending it out in every direction?

Frank Herbert's "White Plague"

>
>The possibilities of damage from such causes, which are definitely not outside the realm of possibility let alone probability, would seem to outweigh any advantages gained -- especially when we have about 25,000 people dying each day due to starvation, and there are people in nations right now who do not know how to read, do not have access to health care, etc. In a day and age where our conventional technology (that which we already possess) has not yet reached out to those in need ... how are we justified in going into places that seem so far away from anything we have any familiarity with (the creation of new / synthetic life via DNA sequencing)?
>
>While I agree that discovery is important, it seems off-the-charts lunacy to even consider moving into the "binary to analog" phases to create synthetic DNA sequences and then "see what happens" (so to speak).

I see many times in science the question: yes we can do it, but should we?