DARPA seeks immortality, with a Kill Switch

[Fredkc]

If you have seen the latest version of The Time Machine, Guy Pierce looks up at the Moon, scattered across 1/2 the sky and laments to his friend of thousands of years ago, "Yes, I guess we did go too far."

I give you two stories on a similar subject:

Darpa to develop immortal organisms
by Daniel Purt on February 9, 2010
http://www.bioprepwatch.com/news/211...rtal-organisms

Darpa, in a move that means to use bio-weapons for good, has announced the investment of $6 million into a project that will create "synthetic organisms" that never die but can be killed with the flick of a molecular switch.

The project, labelled BioDesign, calls for the creation of living, breathing creatures that are genetically engineered to produce specific bi logical effects. The organisms, Darpa says, would be fortified with molecules to resit death.

The cells will be made tamper proof on the genetic level and traceable by means of DNA manipulation, much like a serial number. There will also be a self-destruct option for the organism hard wired into its creation.

According to Wired.com, the BioDesign project comes at a time when Darpa is putting $20 million into a new synthetic biology program and $7.5 million into speeding up the sequencing, analysis and functionality of editing cellular genomes.

The project aims to end what Darpa refers to as the "randomness of natural evolutionary advancement" by utilizing the newest biotech knowledge to create the synthetic organisms. Some, however, question the randomness of evolution.

NYU biology professor David Fitch told Wired.com, "Evolution by selection is not a random process at all, and is actually a hugely efficient design algorithm used extensively in computation and engineering."

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Pentagon Looks to Breed Immortal ‘Synthetic Organisms,’ Molecular Kill-Switch Included

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010...itch-included/

The Pentagon’s mad science arm may have come up with its most radical project yet. Darpa is looking to re-write the laws of evolution to the military’s advantage, creating “synthetic organisms” that can live forever — or can be killed with the flick of a molecular switch.

As part of its budget for the next year, Darpa is investing $6 million into a project called BioDesign, with the goal of eliminating “the randomness of natural evolutionary advancement.” The plan would assemble the latest bio-tech knowledge to come up with living, breathing creatures that are genetically engineered to “produce the intended biological effect.” Darpa wants the organisms to be fortified with molecules that bolster cell resistance to death, so that the lab-monsters can “ultimately be programmed to live indefinitely.”

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:

Develop strategies to create a synthetic organism “self-destruct” option to be implemented upon nefarious removal of organism.

The project comes as Darpa also plans to throw $20 million into a new synthetic biology program, and $7.5 million into “increasing by several decades the speed with which we sequence, analyze and functionally edit cellular genomes.”

Of course, Darpa’s up against some vexing, fundamental laws of nature — not to mention bioethics — as they embark on the lab beast program. First, they might want to rethink the idea of evolution as a random series of events, says NYU biology professor David Fitch. “Evolution by selection is nota random process at all, and is actually a hugely efficient design algorithm used extensively in computation and engineering,” he e-mails Danger Room.

Even if Darpa manages to overcome the inherent intelligence of evolutionary processes, overcoming inevitable death can be tricky. Just ask all the other research teams who’ve made stabs at it, trying everything from cell starvation to hormone treatments. Gene therapy, where artificial genes are inserted into an organism to boost cell life, are the latest and greatest in life-extension science, but they’ve only been proven to extend lifespan by 20 percent in rats.

But suppose gene therapy makes major strides, and Darpa does manage to get the evolutionary science right. They’ll also have a major ethical hurdle to jump. Synthetic biology researchers are already facing the same questions, as a 2009 summary from the Synthetic Biology Project reports:

The concern that humans might be overreaching when we create organisms that never before existed can be a safety concern, but it also returns us to disagreements about what is our proper role in the natural world (a debate largely about non-physical harms or harms to well-being).

Even expert molecular geneticists don’t know what to make of the project. Either that, or they’re scared Darpa might sic a bio-bot on them. “I would love to comment, but unfortunately Darpa has installed a kill switch in me,” one unnamed expert tells Danger Room.
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And if, about now, you're now thinking:

"Isn't it about time we took the future of our planet, and our species away from the children ?"

Well... you're in good company.

Mine

Fred

[Céline]

Where does this end? where does this take us?

i cannot believe i am typing this...sometimes i am ashamed of being human.

[Fredkc]

Truly this is a case of Paranoia meets Hubris, run amok.

I mean, to me it says we are close to missing our cue for the
Time for the adults to take the toys away from the children.

Fred

[Mercuriel]

They prepare for the Animus' arrival...



And still We must endeavour to love them as Children Who have yet to learn...

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk...

[Céline]

Children? about time they grow up...

[Mercuriel]

Yes I agree. Personally - I am still trying to get My Human Children to do the same - LOL...

[Céline]

Originally Posted by Mercuriel

Yes I agree. Personally - I am still trying to get My Human Children to do the same - LOL...

We call that "Growing out"instead of just growing up...

Out..as in ..out of the house

[Fredkc]

I tell everyone my children never moved out....

They had the good sense to Escape!

Fred

[Fredkc]

Ok, this is a shameless



for a couple of reasons:
1. I am quite amazed it didn't gather more comments on the content, and,

2. Wouldn't it be nice if the PTB here @ Avalon could sorta go back through their list of contacts with knowledge of such things, and see if any care to comment upon:
The whole notion,
How far this idea has really gotten,
and anything else that might sound relevant.

For instance, about 5 years ago I heard some rumblings that military scientists in China were trying to develop a nanite that would attack anyone who was not occidental. (disinfo, or no, I have no clue)

Hmmmmm....?

Fred

[no caste]

I had read about this in Wired here. I hate DARPA in general. It deludes young people. It derails creativity. I've ranted about it on the forum before.

DARPA itself needs a kill switch. This is where honey bees go to become bomb sniffers. IARPA is out there too.

On the bright side, students seem to be less interested, as time goes on. Wired is pretty good for info about all this weird stuff - I can only take it in small doses. Lethality ...wowzers... lots of money... but I'm glad someone's reporting on these issues!! You'd think bioethics would figure into these 'endeavors' somewhere along the line.

There's no end to the ways to build a bright bullet.
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Darpa’s New Plans: Crowdsource Intel, Edit DNA http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010...nets-edit-dna/

Pentagon’s Black Budget Tops $56 Billion http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010...ps-56-billion/

CIA moonlights in corporate world - BIA’s clients can put the company on a retainer for as much as $400,000 to $800,000 a year. And in return, they receive access to a variety of services, from deception detection to other programs that feature the CIA intelligence techniques. http://www.politico.com/news/stories...#ixzz0eIFPhHBh

Pentagon Searches for ‘Digital DNA’ to Identify Hackers - The recent malware hit on Google and other U.S. tech firms showed once again just how hard it is to pin a network strike on a particular person or group. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/page/6/#ixzz0fOmdADKX

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My evil DARPA thread Maybe yours will keep rolling fred

DARPA- One of 3 prime 'evils' in the world
http://projectavalon.net/forum/showthread.php?t=13624