Month: September 2022

NOT SCIFI. “Although this possibility may sound like a foray into science fiction, information security experts believe the blurring of the boundaries between computer and biological viruses is not so far-fetched—and could have very real consequences.” http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/could-human-and-computer-viruses-merge-leaving-both-realms-vulnerable/ View in LinkedIn

PARASITES. “Both computer and biological viruses, they explain in their paper, can be defined as "information that codes for parasitic behavior." In biology, a virus's code is written in DNA or RNA and is much smaller than the code making up a computer virus. The DNA of a flu virus, for example, could be described with about 23,000 bits, whereas the average computer virus would fall in a range 10 to 100 times bigger.” http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/could-human-and-computer-viruses-merge-leaving-both-realms-vulnerable/ View in LinkedIn

TELEPATHY. “Ten years ago, the US National Science Foundation predicted ‘network-enhanced telepathy’ – sending thoughts over the internet – would be practical by the 2020s. And thanks to neuroscientists at the University of California, we seem to be on schedule.” https://lnkd.in/e7pQZVU View in LinkedIn

COMMON GROUND. “The origins of each virus are strikingly different: A computer virus is designed, whereas a biological virus evolves under pressure from natural selection. But what would happen if these origins are switched? Could hackers code for a super-virus, or a computer virus emerge out of the information "wilderness" and evolve over time? Apvrille and Lovet argued that both scenarios are possible.” http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/could-human-and-computer-viruses-merge-leaving-both-realms-vulnerable/ View in LinkedIn

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. “As for computer viruses speciating and evolving, Apvrille and Lovet believed that with enough data the code for a single computer virus might form spontaneously. Chances are slimmer, however, that it would include the necessary details to adapt and evolve. So far this scenario has only occurred in viruses in which researchers have encoded genetic algorithms to mimic evolutionary processes.” http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/could-human-and-computer-viruses-merge-leaving-both-realms-vulnerable/ View in LinkedIn

WITCHES BREW. “By using multiple vaccines in the same animals, the farmers acted as matchmakers for the intercontinental viruses. The weakened Australian and European strains infected the same cells, “mated” with each other, and shuffled their genetic material (the technical term is “recombined”).” https://lnkd.in/dG485cW View in LinkedIn

CYBER NIGHTMARE. “But there are more immediate possibilities for computer-biology crossovers. Synthetic biology uses computers to store genetic information, and Apvrille and Lovet explained that hackers could infect these devices or the software used for DNA sequencing, thereby modifying whatever biological product is being synthesized.” http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/could-human-and-computer-viruses-merge-leaving-both-realms-vulnerable/ View in LinkedIn

THE FEVERISH IMAGINATION. “Synthetic biology and man-machine interfaces. Creating machine viruses that hack the brain and invade the human mind might sound like science fiction to some, but the real science is rapidly approaching. Synthetic biology—the ability to design artificial life—wedded to the emerging technology of man-machine interfacing creates a combination that is potentially deadly and one more than enough to whet the appetite of criminal hackers.” https://lnkd.in/dEPU6w6 View in LinkedIn

THOUGHT HACKING. “Experts claim that synthetic biology is accelerating faster than evolution and researchers like Andrew Hessel who’s lecturing at NASA’s Singularity University on the promises—and dangers—of the emerging technology warn that tomorrow’s hackers could develop insidious viruses or bacteria designed to hijack the brain and direct the thoughts of a human mind.” https://lnkd.in/dEPU6w6 View in LinkedIn

ANDREW HESSEL. "Andrew Hessel is a futurist and catalyst in biological technologies, helping industry, academics, and authorities better understand the changes happening in life science. He is a Distinguished Researcher with Autodesk in their Bio/Nano Research Group, based out of San Francisco. He is also the co-founder of the Pink Army Cooperative, the world’s first cooperative biotechnology company, which is aiming to make open source viral therapies for cancer.” http://andrewhessel.com/ View in LinkedIn