Re:I'm not uber enough, apparently
on
Mutant Mosquitos
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· Score: 0
While all this is true, keep in mind that what the root of the mutation is, is that the skeeters are increasingly resistant to the pesticide. The mutation does nothing to strengthen or weaken the diseases they pass on, so that is a whole different issue.
Now, on a big-picture level, the increased resistence in the mutant skeeters could still easily contribute to a more wide-spread distribution of the disease they inflict. This in turn could result in the virus using a larger environment (i.e. more victims) for the virus to "discover" physiologies which are more hospitable to it than other, resulting in, over time, the virus evolving into it's own more powerful mutant strain, making current medicines used to treat it less affective.
Same destination, different road, I s'pose, but the difference will be seen in the methodologies used to combat the situation (i.e. a different pesticide, a different medical treatment, or both).
Perhaps this *is* or *is leading to* a kind of implant technology. But hopefully not. Even if a person's body can heal around the platinum and not reject it, the individual's bloodstream will still be absorbing a heavy metal. I won't put the cart before the horse, but we can look at least 2 places in history where the assimilation of heavy metals into the bloodstream on a routine basis resulted in a collapse of civilization due to insanity being prevalent amongst the populace. The most notable, in my limited opinion, would be the Roman empire. The nobility and other wealthy classes are largely blamed, but that is only because they were high-profile. The fact is that everybody's plates, cups, bowls, etc, were being crafted from heavy metals. Heavy metal gets absorbed by your blood and then disintegrates the fiber that connects the right and left side of your brain. It doesn't take long. Less than a year of regular absorption in small quantities.
Now, not everybody is going to have a nano-implant, and our current civilization is already insane from what-I-do-not-know, so this could all be moot. But I do not see, in a long-term sense, any heavy metals being successfully used for nanotechnology as it applies to human physiology.
My guess is that it will be plastic and ceramics (although metal, ceramic is typically not a heavy metal) being used for such purposes. In fact, if anybody can lead me to some info, if there actually even is any, about the use of ceramics in nanotechnology, I would be very interested. And appreciative.......
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While all this is true, keep in mind that what the root of the mutation is, is that the skeeters are increasingly resistant to the pesticide. The mutation does nothing to strengthen or weaken the diseases they pass on, so that is a whole different issue. Now, on a big-picture level, the increased resistence in the mutant skeeters could still easily contribute to a more wide-spread distribution of the disease they inflict. This in turn could result in the virus using a larger environment (i.e. more victims) for the virus to "discover" physiologies which are more hospitable to it than other, resulting in, over time, the virus evolving into it's own more powerful mutant strain, making current medicines used to treat it less affective. Same destination, different road, I s'pose, but the difference will be seen in the methodologies used to combat the situation (i.e. a different pesticide, a different medical treatment, or both).
Perhaps this *is* or *is leading to* a kind of implant technology. But hopefully not. Even if a person's body can heal around the platinum and not reject it, the individual's bloodstream will still be absorbing a heavy metal. I won't put the cart before the horse, but we can look at least 2 places in history where the assimilation of heavy metals into the bloodstream on a routine basis resulted in a collapse of civilization due to insanity being prevalent amongst the populace. The most notable, in my limited opinion, would be the Roman empire. The nobility and other wealthy classes are largely blamed, but that is only because they were high-profile. The fact is that everybody's plates, cups, bowls, etc, were being crafted from heavy metals. Heavy metal gets absorbed by your blood and then disintegrates the fiber that connects the right and left side of your brain. It doesn't take long. Less than a year of regular absorption in small quantities. Now, not everybody is going to have a nano-implant, and our current civilization is already insane from what-I-do-not-know, so this could all be moot. But I do not see, in a long-term sense, any heavy metals being successfully used for nanotechnology as it applies to human physiology. My guess is that it will be plastic and ceramics (although metal, ceramic is typically not a heavy metal) being used for such purposes. In fact, if anybody can lead me to some info, if there actually even is any, about the use of ceramics in nanotechnology, I would be very interested. And appreciative.......