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Making Computer Memory From a Virus
An Ac writes, "By coating 30-nanometre-long chunks of tobacco mosaic virus with platinum nanoparticles, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have created a transistor with very fast switching speed. They say it could eventually be used to make memory chips for MP3 players and digital cameras. A device fitted with such a virus-chip would access data much more quickly than one using flash memory."
What if I drop the thing and cut myself on the memory? Will I get songs stuck in my head forever?
I can't wait to see how quickly this tech is misunderstood by politicians and eco-warriors!
Meta will eat itself
The last time I had a virus, I ended up with less memory.
If you've got any illegal MP3's, your player kills you.
Judge, jury and executioner all in one!
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
Soemthing that typically reads 128kbps doesn't exactly require heaps of bandwidth.
Why isn't this suitable for general purpose memory, or cache?
DNA on silicon has already been done. Why not use a virus as scaffolding for memory, while we're at it? Granted, the virus' surface proteins are a functional part of the transistor. Given that we can already attach complex proteins (well, acids such as DNA) to silicon, there shouldn't be much trouble finding a method for similar tricks here. In other words, this is more practiceable than it sounds at first. I do wonder whether the virii or silicon traces are more resistant to heat, vibration, and radiation, though.
-1 raving lunatic; +6 subGenius... Things even out...
This raises an ethical concern for me. I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"
Most would consider a virus to be non-living. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus
as I lunch some tenderloin with bacon and after, when I watch TV on my leather couch while drinking some beer. And cheese. :-)
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"
I'd answer, but my mouth is full of animal and vegetable lifeform. It's delicious.
100 microsecond switch speed is very very slow for modern transistors (mentioned in article). What am I missing here? Is there a mistake in the article?
wot no sig
the "basic research == future product" meme. For fuck sake. I bet if you were to go back the last 5 years and collect up all these articles and do a little survey of whether or not ANY of these bullshit descriptions of future products have come to pass you would find that NONE of them have. Why? Because if you discover something that could be turned into a product, you don't tell the world; you go find a venture capitalist and make the damn product.
How we know is more important than what we know.
"Is it really okay to subvert ' lifeforms ' like this?"
After all, they are trumpeting speed, but won't the legendary instability of the biological world come into view?
"Ooh, look. My memory mutated. It wasn't intelligently designed."
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
"you have a virus in memory"
"i know, my memory is made of viruses"
"no, i mean, there is a memory resident virus on your computer"
"no, the memory resides on the viruses"
"let me rephrase: your memory, made of viruses, has a virus"
"so you're telling me i have more viruses... so i have more memory? yeah!"
"no, this is a bad thing, you don't want viruses on your computer"
"you told me last week i want the most memory i can on my computer, and that's made of viruses"
"yes... i mean no, i mean..." (smacks forehead)
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I can't wait until designer prankster viruses come out. Imagine that instead of becoming sick, weird things happened to people. They might really! stink for a day, have their tongue turn numb, develop inappropriate laughter, only want to eat orange colored food, etc.
Might be kinda of fun - it would be like gold(?) kryptonite, but for people. Gold (I think) kryptonite had weird unpredictable effects of Superman. It might make the world a little more fun. Imagine going to some very stuffy conservative place, and everyone was burping all day long.
Abuse potential would be rampant though. Someone from here might want to design a strain to make reallllllly hot chicks want to have sex with smelly fat geeks.
..........FULL STOP.
I hope you don't wear silk, eat meat, wear leather...
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Steve (a veganist) won't have any of this. Living creatures serving as memory. Yuk!
In the United States of America your computer runs on a virus!
No trees were harmed in the posting of this message. However, a great number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
If you've got any illegal MP3's, your player kills you.
Judge, jury and executioner all in one!
So what you are hypothesizing is that in a few years we will see a Microsoft Zune or iPods with Sony EbolaFlash® memory chip technology.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Not only does it run faster than conventional memory, it's an anti-smoking chip: if it catches you smoking at the computer it infects your cigar/cigarette with itself
...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
This raises an ethical concern for me. I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"
Yes, it's a slippery slope. If we allow this, before you know it they will be using higher life forms like plants or even animals to serve human needs.
sudo ergo sum
So is this the first analog computer virus?
Your search - "analog computer virus" - did not match any documents.
Looks like google agrees.
I don't want a pickle; I just want a Motor-Cycle! A four foot cop arrived with a five foot gun!
If the virus starts replicating, are they commiting copyright violation?
How will the RIAA sue? I'm sure they will find a way.
It will come pre-loaded with viral material saving you the time and effort of gathering it yourself.
Chemical name of Dahlemense Strain of Tobacco Mosaic Virus is 3rd longest in English language, apparently (not sure I'd want to have a conversation with anyone who thinks this is really a valid English word, but anyway):
y lserylglutaminyl-l tryptophylalanyl-g inylvalylcysteinyl-y lphenylalanyl-y lthreonylthreonyl-r ylglutaminylvalyl-s erylthreonylvalyl-y llysylvalyltyrosyl-l prolylleucylisoleucyl-n ylaspartylthreonyl-y lvalylglutamyl-l threonylalanylglutamyl-l valylaspartylaspartyl-n ylasparaginylisoleucyl-l ylarginylglycyl-s paraginylthreonyl-y lvalyltryptophyl-
acetylseryltyrosylserylisoleucylthreonylserylprol
phenylalanylvalylphenylalanylleucylserylserylvaly
aspartylprolylisoleucylglutamylleucylleucylaspara
threonylserylserylleucylglycylasparaginylglutamin
glutaminylthreonylglutaminylglutaminylalanylargin
glutaminylvalylglutaminylglutaminylphenylalanylse
tryptophyllysylprolylphenylalanylprolylglutaminyl
arginylphenylalanylprolylglycylaspartylvalyltyros
arginyltyrosylasparaginylalanylvalylleucylasparty
threonylalanylleucylleucylglycylthreonylphenylala
arginylasparaginylarginylisoleucylisoleucylglutam
asparaginylglutaminylglutaminylserylprolylthreony
threonylleucylaspartylalanylthreonylarginylarginy
alanylthreonylvalylalanylisoleucylarginylserylala
asparaginylleucylvalylasparaginylglutamylleucylva
threonylglycylleucyltyrosylasparaginylglutaminyla
phenylalanylglutamylserylmethionylserylglycylleuc
threonylserylalanylprolylalanylserine
What, you mean like killing animals for food ? (Don't get me wrong - I like dead animal chunks for diner.)
Or having wild animals evolve into domesticated shadows of their former selves just to cater to our emotional needs ?
Or breeding/engineering tomatoes/cows/dolphins that are bigger/juicier/smarter ?
IMO nothing new, really. It's basically just a matter of disccusing which methods of "improvement" are ethically acceptable.
(And even this is circumstantial. In times of crisis, ethics == luxury.)
I'm more concerned about developing self-replicating hybrid tech (the whole mutation/evolution meme).
The thing is, that's exactly where money is to be made. So I guess it will happen eventually. And at some point it will go horribly wrong. And no lessons will be learned.
What will those crazy scientists bling next?
Reduce, reuse, cycle
Even virus RNA and cell wall can disintegrate at high temps. Will my memory melt if the cooling is not perfect?
This raises an ethical concern for me. I think we should be asking ourselves "Is it really ok to subvert lifeforms like this for our own use?"
I think of it more as a mutualism (or the very least, commensalism). The sole purpose of a virus is to replicate. Many viruses do that at the detriment to its host. But what better way to replicate than to become beneficial to the host (in this case, by storing data) such that the host actively "breeds" more of the virus? It's akin to saying you're "subverting" the bacterial flora in your gut for your own digestive purposes.
Wow dude, RIAA is gonna hire a hitman to take you down for the copyright infringement.
There is no way you can claim fairuse if you have a copy of songs etched in your neurons.
Yeah, and what happens if people will reconsider that viruses might be living?
Next thing we know, PETA will be protesting against using the poor buggers in transistors.