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MilSpec Biotech

Posted by michael on from the into-the-outdoors-with-gun-and-camera dept.

Glurx writes: "The US Army commissioned a report so they could explore how the biotechnology revolution can enhance their ability to execute their missions on battlefields in the next few decades. The SF Chronicle has a story about it. You can read the report here."

6 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If they're so sophisticated... by Bob+Uhl · · Score: 4
    Reducing war is exactly in the military's interest, and it knows this. Who is it who dies in wars? Not politicians. Not mindless twits like the above poster. No, it's the soldiers and sailors who get their legs blown off, who are blinded, who spend the rest of their lives in pain and agony. The less killing and maiming, the happier the military is. Believe or not, some of the staunchest pacifists are in the military. Unlike some pacifists, though, they are realists: they know that if one wishes war, one prepares for peace, and that if one wishes peace, one prepares for war. They wish peace, and hence hone their warmaking skills.

    War is a fact of life and of history. It is inevitable. But it can be controlled and the likelihood reduced. The only way to reduce it, though, is to make warfare cheap for oneself and expensive for the other guy--this means that he would be a fool to start hostilities.

  2. not for everyone by Illserve · · Score: 3

    The higher ups aren't the ones doing the dying, but they're the ones calling the shots. Some of the brass spends their entire lives preparing for war, and you can bet that can sometimes create a desire to have one. They want to prove themselves, their theories, their plans, it's human nature.

    Naturally this isn't a generalization about everyone in the upper echelons.

  3. On Dept. of Defense... Implants by joq · · Score: 3


    Applied Digital Solutions, an e-business-to-business solutions provider, acquired the patent rights to the miniature digital transceiver it has named "Digital Angel®." The company plans to market the device for a number of uses, including as a "tamper-proof means of identification for enhanced e-business security." ... One inquirer was the U.S. Department of Defense through a contractor, according to Zhou. American soldiers may be required to wear the implant so their whereabouts and health conditions can be accessed at all times, said the scientist.

    [source]

    Some technology they're looking at ...

    --

    Want Root?
  4. The water in the think tank needs cleaning. by bons · · Score: 3
    "-- Bioengineered tracking agents soldiers would swallow before going into the field, which could help the Army follow troop movements and maybe allow sensor-equipped snipers to distinguish friend from foe."

    It also allows enemy sensor equipped snipers to have a field day...

    -- Wrist-top biosensors to guard against germ warfare, combined perhaps with vaccines that could be developed rapidly in the field and "functional food" rations laced with edible vaccines."

    The anti-ebola tastes best when you add the reto-virus ketchup.

    -- Armor as flexible as skin, tough as an abalone shell and enhanced with "living characteristics," such as the ability to heal itself when torn.

    This damn armor healed itself when I went to the latrine and now my **** is stuck!

    -- Even more far-out possibilities fall under the general heading of biology- based "performance enhancement" for soldiers, including brain implants...

    Brain implants? I knew a Captain who could have used one of those...

    --

    No Zen is good zen

  5. "Conclusions and recommendations" by 3-State+Bit · · Score: 4
    I realize almost no one is going to even look at all those pdf documents, but here's a sentence I liked from the final pages of the report:
    In keeping with national policy, the study did not consider offensive biological weapons; however, the committee believes that all biotechnology development should be undertaken with defenses against such weapons in mind.
    God bless America.


    (a little explanation)
    ~
  6. In the early desert dawn... by corvi42 · · Score: 3
    Capt:
    "Ok men, we're moving in on the enemy positions in a few hours, and I repeat what I've said before, I don't want any of you shooting people who are trying to surrender."
    Gomer:
    "But Cap'n, I don't speak no Eye-Rack-EE"

    Capt:

    "You don't need to son, just stick this fish in your ear"

    --

    There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin