Slashdot Mirror
DARPA Aims for Synthetic Life With a Kill Switch
jkinney3 writes to mention that DARPA's mad scientists have undertaken a new program designed to create synthetic organisms, complete with a "kill switch." The project, dubbed BioDesign, is dumping $6 million into "removing the randomness of evolutionary advancement" by creating genetically engineered masterpieces. "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."
U.S. government: Any amount of money for killing people (DARPA [darpa.mil]), but can't fix the terribly abusive, broken health system.
It is sad that you kids today are so bad at math.
DARPA's budget is only about one percent of what we spend on Medicare and Medicaid. Of course the U.S. government "can't fix the terribly abusive, broken health system". They CAUSED the "terribly abusive, broken health system". Before the government got involved, health care in the US was affordable to even the poor. Doctors used to even come to a house if a family member was sufficiently sick and didn't feel like going to his office, for an additional cost of about 50 cents. I have lived through the destruction of the US medical financing system, and at every step government has been the source of the problems. Certainly the medicine is better now, but that is a function of technology, not government.
There is something supremely retarded about you kids. You see government fail miserably at almost everything it does, yet you somehow believe the solution is more government control.