DARPA Aims for Synthetic Life With a Kill Switch 295
jkinney3 writes to mention that DARPA's mad scientists have undertaken a new program designed to create synthetic organisms, complete with a "kill switch." The project, dubbed BioDesign, is dumping $6 million into "removing the randomness of evolutionary advancement" by creating genetically engineered masterpieces. "Of course, Darpa's got to prevent the super-species from being swayed to do enemy work — so they'll encode loyalty right into DNA, by developing genetically programmed locks to create 'tamper proof' cells. Plus, the synthetic organism will be traceable, using some kind of DNA manipulation, 'similar to a serial number on a handgun.' And if that doesn't work, don't worry. In case Darpa's plan somehow goes horribly awry, they're also tossing in a last-resort, genetically-coded kill switch."
Hmmmmm (Score:3, Interesting)
I can see this as a movie entitled "Kill Switch" with Arnold Schwarzenegger.......
Re:Luckily... (Score:2, Interesting)
History has no evidence of any organism managing to evolve away from a lethal or maladaptive feature.
Well, you're more right than you know. Baby seals haven't evolved to withstand harder clubs. Cows haven't managed to evolve into anything other than steak. Us humans haven't manage evolve away from war.
So yeah, I don't see why a killswitch would fail.
Re:Hmmmmm (Score:3, Interesting)
I believe the movie you're looking for starred Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer.
Just because it's been done before doesn't mean it can't be remade with more special effects, a higher budget and worse actors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_at_a_Funeral_(2007_film) [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_at_a_Funeral_(2010_film) [wikipedia.org]
implants instead of robots? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Does your tax money go where you want? (Score:3, Interesting)
DARPA: if you will put a kill-switch inside politicians, I am ready to send you some money by PayPal.
Re:Luckily... (Score:3, Interesting)
Gary Larson, The Far Side, was way ahead of his time.
Re:Cow is the host, man is the parasite (Score:3, Interesting)
The analogue for vegetarians would be maize, arguably the most successful species in the history of human civilization. To bring this conversation fork back on topic, it's interesting to note that modern corn is the result of several mutations that make the plant much less viable in the wild, and dependent upon humans for survival. Even with an engineered "kill switch" there's no guarantee that these artificial organisms won't encounter some other microorganism that finds it beneficial to keep 'em around and figures out some way to do so.
Re:Junk DNA (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Luckily... (Score:3, Interesting)
Consider this: the way plants are arranged in virgin forest is natural, whereas the way plants are arranged in my backyard garden is not. But, my desire to order what seems chaotic is natural. Not just natural for a human, but a part of nature. When (American) football is played on artificial turf it seems unnatural, but my point is that the human ability to create artificial turf exists within the realm of nature, because there is no way for anything to exist outside of nature. This is in my opinin a fundamental aspect of Darwin's discovery.
Re:Luckily... (Score:3, Interesting)
Cows are successful because of humans domesticating them. You seem to be confusing that with natural selection.