Biohackers Pave Way For Bioterrorists: Scientists Manipulate DNA To Create Biological Computers And Weapons

by Monica Davis

The BBC is reporting that scientists have developed a way to store information on human DNA.  Essentially, they are using DNA like a computer and store information in organic material instead of on computer disks.  Not all of that information is harmless.

Today, we don’t have to read science fiction or watch futuristic movies to see biological computers, nural nets and biohackers in action. They are here. And some of them are very dangerous. With today’s technology, anyone with the knowlege could become a dangerous biohacker.

A biohacker is a biopunk hobbyist who experiments with DNA and other aspects of genetics.[3][4][6] A biohacker (or “wetware hacker”) is similar to a computer hacker who creates and modifiessoftware or computer hardware as a hobby, but should not be confused with a bioterrorist, whose sole intent is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs used to cause illness or death in people, animals, or plants (in the same way a computer hacker should not be confused with the more popular, yet erroneous, use of the term, describing someone who spreads computer viruses or breaks into computers systems for malicious purposes).[7]

Pat Mooney, executive director of ETC Group, is a critic of biohacking who argues that—using a laptop computer, published gene sequence information, and mail-order synthetic DNA—just about anyone has the potential to construct genes or entire genomes from scratch (including those of the lethal pathogens) in the near-future. He warns that the danger of this development is not just bio-terror, but “bio-error”.[8] MOREHERE

Scientists are creating DNA and virus based networks that can talk to cells, command them to do things like make insulin or regenerate damagd heart muscle. 

 

Down the road, the biological Internet could lead to biosynthetic factories in which huge masses of microbes collaborate to make more complicated fuels, pharmaceuticals and other useful chemicals. With improvements, the engineers say, their cell-cell communication platform might someday allow more complex three-dimensional programming of cellular systems, including the regeneration of tissue or organs.  READMOREHERE

Unfortunately, like Pandora’s Box, one we let the genii out of the bag, there’s no telling how far it will go, or whether it will work for good or evil. The technology is benign, but the cyber punks, biohackers and terrorists aren’t. Once the technology exists, someone will find a way to exploit it, for good or evil.

Just think of a situation where biohackers could use food crops as a vector to transmit bio-altered genes to spread disease and catastrophe. Right now, we have GMO corn which produces pesticides to kill corn pests.  That corn continues to produce insecticide once you eat it.

What if someone were to tweak the genes and DNA in the corn to command our cells to produce cancer, Ebola viruses, or other catastrophic plagues?  The Dr. Frankenstein horror novels of the past may have nothing on future reality. Even worse, if the technology becomes easily acessible, humanity is one evil nutcase away from an extinction level event.

With what we know now, we understand that other advanced civlizations lived and died on Earth, long before our “technologically advanced” societies sprouted. The Great Pyramids host a treasure trove of ancient technologies–some so advanced that we have no idea what they are.  

What happened to the civilizations which created these machines and tools? Will we disappear off the face of the Earth as they did?