Cockroaches Injected With DNA Nanobots

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OK, I'll make it official. Its just a matter of time before the Apocalypse crawls out of some lab.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics ... 140409.htm

Oh, now they will not only outlast us, they may be smarter too?

That's the thing. Cockroaches are already incredibly hardy and pervasive... and now somebody is enhancing their survivability further? Shall we need high explosives to deal with an investation?

Nanites: The govs way of saying "f*** you" to anyone who doesn't agree with them.

In some science fiction, these were called "harvesters" and were made to be killing machines in a world war.

This is not a case of mad scientists breeding a super race of roaches.

This is a technology that has been pursued for quite some time for a variety of reasons in the medical field, primarily in the area of cancer research. Roaches are excellent for this testing because they breed prolifically and mature quickly, while still being genetically complex enough to show the effects and side effects on a cellular level.

You misunderstand, the cockroaches aren't the killing machines, the nanites are. Nanites can be weaponized and deployed so easily, and people wouldn't know the difference between them and a new virus unless some doctor looked under a microscope (which is likely, if people bothered to get a checkup). The problem is, nanites can cause fatal damage almost immediately after entering any major organ, if they've been programed to. What's worse is, if they're EMP hardened, it'll be 50x harder to destroy them.

I don't know about you, but at this point in history, I doubt that the american "government" will pass up the opportunity to make a new deadly weapon to use against its enemies (which is everyone at this point, aside from people who don't know any better).

The nanites are the potential lifesavers. Everyone always assumes whatever the current research focus is will be used by the big bad government to destroy the rest of the world. We sure do have a lot of space based laser weapons and deadly weaponized viruses, don't we?

Who exactly are these enemies that the government would want to use some theoretical killer nanobots against? All those other nations where our huge corporations are making huge profits? The only places left that would realistically be attacked by the US are nations where US companies aren't making money, and few of those pose a real threat. The only places the US will take offensive action in are ones that even more cash can be squeezed out of if we go in and blow some sh*t up. One advantage of increased globalization is further decreased conflict in stable world economies.

The are plenty of ways for the government to say "F*** you" to people that are a whole lot simpler and cheaper than nanotechnology research, construction, and modification.

Regardless of the potential for saving lives that these nanites have, they still have the very real potential to be the opposite of what they are intended for. If they can help save lives, then they can be programed to take them, all it takes is programming. All it takes is one official order, and then they're weaponized.
The "who" in the equation is quite simple: Any group or individual that the government considers a threat to them.

Yes, there are cheaper and simpler ways to ultimately screw over the people, but none of them are ways that wouldn't directly incriminate the gov. They're smarter than that, they're playing the game to win, and they're doing so strategically.

Also; "big bad government" = Real life. It's not a conspiracy theory anymore people, it's real, it's happening. Don't believe me? Do some research for yourself, you can start with Edward Snowden and PRISM. That's not even a fraction of the tip of the iceberg.

You have opened my eyes! We need to demand an end to all medical research! The government will use it to create super computer driven genetically modified killer clones with nanobot dart guns! (insert random smiley here)

There is almost no advance in technology that cannot be weaponized. To assume that this dystopian vision is some sort of definite future threat is just silly.

As for PRISM, how was that a surprise to anyone the first time it was news back in 2006? Or (once again) with Snowden? It's not like all that info wasn't collected and stored before the government got in on the game. Politicians have been using data mining companies that got their info from consumers to tell them what to run on for ages now.

The government got past their need to covertly demonize and persecute their enemies long ago. As long as they follow the right set of rules, they can legally lock up pretty much anyone they want to, never to be heard from again. Or they can just jail them and tie them up in legal battles for decades to make them completely powerless. Or they can just freeze all of their assets until an "investigation" can be completed. Why would they need to go to the trouble of a nanobot army?

I said no such thing of ending medical research! Be sarcastic and make fun of me all you want, it changes literally nothing.
1. No, it's not "silly" (modern day speak for "stupid" or "idiotic"), actually sit back and think about it, the government can't physically lock up every person that opposes them in any way, the ONLY weapon against the masses that is viable is a massively administered control mechanism that they can control at the press of a button. If everyone had nanites in their bloodstream, all they'd have to do is target a specific area to activate them and subdue people. It's so d*mned easy to go this way it's not even funny!

2. PRISM was classified until snowden blew the whistle on it, people didn't even know it existed until then, otherwise they would've been up in arms about it long before now, and that's also why the government wanted to incarcerate snowden in the first place. Now tell me, in your mind, why would the government want to incarcerate someone for revealing a program that was, apparently according to you, known by people since 2006? Afterall, if it was a known program, there's no reason why the government would want snowden in the first place.

3. PRISM isn't about consumerism, it's about the government treating everyone like a terrorist. They aren't gathering the data to sell people stuff, they're gathering it to keep their eye on people who don't agree with them. That's always what PRISM has been about.

4. Again: the government can't physically lock up every person that opposes them in any way, the ONLY weapon against the masses that is viable is a massively administered control mechanism that they can control at the press of a button. If everyone had nanites in their bloodstream, all they'd have to do is target a specific area to activate them and subdue people. It's so d*mned easy to go this way it's not even funny!

Actually, you're interested in seeing what one of the best writers of our age has to say about the nanotech revolution, in a fictional setting, you guys should check out this book:

The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson

It covers some of the most wonderous and horrific possibilities of that kind of technology, and it's extremely well written.
The scentists are just scratching the surface of the stuff this guy pulled from his imagination and wove it into an amazingly plausible future.

Seriously.
Read it, it's awesome.

My main point is here, we can't ignore the possible outcome of such technology being weaponized.

Example: Atomic energy... enough said.

Some weapons, like nukes, are not easily replicated or stolen. What scares me about this genetic stuff is the suspicion that it is much more vunerable to getting into the wrong hands. The wrong hands being some nutcase or irrational zealot, if not a rogue leader like North Korea's. There is also a worry about limits. A nuke could take out a city, but what could a super virus or destructive nanobot do ?

As far as will something be weaponized, I would say it is only a matter of time. I can't think of anything people have made that has not been weaponized.

You're thinking of velociraptors from Jurassic Park. Oh crap.....

Your dystopian vision just reminds me of the days when cloning was going to being a massive weapon for the government to subdue everyone they didn't like. Or the panic of implanted microchips. Or flu vaccines being turned into a population control measure. Or fluoride in drinking water somehow making people submissive to the powers that be. Or television being used as mind control. Or microorganism research will lead to new weaponized diseases.



The name, "PRISM" and the full scope were disclosed by Snowden. The outcry about its enabling legislation began in 2006, then faded from view, allowing the passage of the Protect America Act of 2007 (which granted the authority of the NSA to collect data) and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which granted companies legal immunity for disclosing consumers data.

In fact, way back in 2005 there was the disclosure that the NSA was spying on US citizens under the umbrella of the NSA's Terrorist Surveillance Program.



Of course PRISM isn't about consumerism. But since all of the data collected by the NSA has been bought and sold by dat mining companies for years and years, how is it a surprise that the NSA wanted in on the action? To be honest, they could have avoided a ton of controversy by just paying for the data instead of trying to do it on their own. They wouldn't even have had to pass new legislation to make it legal.



So if the government executes everyone who disagrees with them in any way, I guess that the two opposing sides of the government are probably going to kill each other off long before they try to knock out anyone else. What you are envisioning would require a unique set of nanobots for every single person along with a massive infrastructure to administer, monitor, and execute the program. If they were all the same, the push of the button would only mean the deaths of the entire population. It is so much easier to keep Homeland Security's authority to lock up anyone they want to for a vaguely defined "suspicion."

I'm not trying to make fun of you or insult you. I am just trying to point out that this kind of worse than the worst case scenario speculation is unfounded. If you want to worry about the government and its control of the masses, start researching exactly how much government influence large corporations can buy, especially in light of the recent SCOTUS ruling that money = speech and that limitations on what to do with that money = restricting free speech. It is easy to control the masses if you control the money, no nanotech required.

Giant Cockroaches the size of riding lawnmowers, with hardened exoskeletons might make a decent Sci-Fi movie. I guess it depends on the CGI. Or perhaps in a spy thriller novel where some have been programmed by an evil government to contaminate the water holes. But that's where I want them to stay, just in stories.

And each year, more and more of this stuff is becoming disturbingly feasible.

Worried about the Bird Flu mutating to where it can spread from human to human? Never fear, its already been done, in the lab in the Netherlands, so they can study how to combat it.