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Reminds me of this short story I read the other day:

http://eidolon.net/?story=The%20Moral%20Virologist

An interesting short story about the potential of genetic viral design in the hands of a fundamentalist:
http://eidolon.net/?story=The%20Moral%20Virologist

"Most likely we will design/evolve them to be benign and helpful."

And how would you define benign, or helpful? Whatever definition is chosen would become the ultimate static result of a program with unlimited thinking power and control over the internet. A program that would know there is no difference between an action against it's goal and not doing an action for it's goal.

There is no human who should define such a state that would become the static whole universe, and belief otherwise is proof that you are not capable of coming up with it. There are more things in heaven and earth, there may be things dealing with the soul out there that are far beyond our imagination.

Here's a nice link.

Greg Egan's The Moral Virologist indirectly addresses your point, and is one of the most fascinating short stories you'll ever read.

Along those lines, a short story: The Moral Virologist, Greg Egan.

You may like the short story The Moral Virologist by Greg Egan.

It seems to me that success in this field will necessarily create a need for engineering effective replacement body parts. Sounds like an interesting premise for a Sci-Fi novel that I'm pretty sure somebody here is going to tell me has already been written.

You might like the short story The Extra by Greg Egan. You can read it online for free.

Also is there any numbers on whether or not you could cover a giant tanker-like ship with enough solar panels to get it to move at an acceptable speed?

http://eidolon.net/homesite.html?section=terrydowl ing&page=terrydowling/td_ryno.htm

Agreed. This seems as good a place as ever to link to one of my favorite short stories: Greg Egan's The Moral Virologist

"Dropping paleontology was a great relief; defending Creationism with any conviction required a certain, very special, way of thinking, and he had never been quite sure that he could master it. Biochemistry, on the other hand, he mastered with ease (confirmation, if any was needed, that he'd made the right decision). He topped his classes every year, and went on to do a PhD in Molecular Biology at Harvard, then postdoctoral work at the NIH, and fellowships in Canada and France. He lived for his work, pushing himself mercilessly, but always taking care not to be too conspicuous in his achievements. He published very little, usually as a modest third or fourth co-author, and when at last he flew home from France, nobody in his field knew, or would have much cared, that John Shawcross had returned, ready to begin his real work."

If you were creeped out by the nonfiction rumors of apartheid-era South African genetic research into diseases to be triggered in the presence of melanin, Egan's story will keep you awake at night for weeks.

I think it would be totally awesome if some kind of imaginary god did try and punish it's creation through the use of a cruel, life destroying virus - only to have his divine will deflected by something so simple as a tiny thicknesses of latex, education, testing and screening, as well as the hard work of doctors and scientists around the globe.

Would me wonder who should be quaking in fear from who.

Here's another case of Disney plagiarism or infringement, but there are others too:

http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm
http://eidolon.net/?section=old_site&visiting_sect ion=old_site&page=/old_site/issue_16/16_ce.htm

Any lawsuits against Disney can be expensive.