I love the both the subjects of Nanotech and Genetic Engineering. Maybe not in the real world, especially the genenging part, which may turn out to be a flippen nightmare in the near future. I don’t think we will start giving people superpowers like the X-men, though we may make a species of superior human that makes the rest of us obsolete, not something I look forward to. Conversely we may rid our species of many medical ailments and genetic disabilities which cause much misery, and that is a good thing. I have also heard that nanotech has been called the potential greatest gift and greatest danger to mankind. I think the danger has been exaggerated (see my post on why nanotech is not the danger it is portrayed in science fiction). Nanobots are just too small and fragile to handle a full scale attack by human science. However, the benefits are difficult to exaggerate.
Now modern Genetic Engineering is done by using a retrovirus or other chemical means to snip out a bit of the human gene while another inserts a different bit(the same process used by viruses to turn our cells into virus manufactories). This works with single bits of DNA, and possibly with more than a few at a time. We mostly do it with single or just a few cells, which means we can make changes to the small collection of cells that will become a human being. And while many people may be against those changes, I would work them in a heartbeat on a child that is destined to become Downs, or Autistic, or be cursed with Spina Bifida. Sorry if you don’t agree for religious or moralistic reasons. I would do it to prevent the suffering that is to come. Unfortunately we don’t always know that we have a problems until the future human is more than a small collection of cells. Sometimes we don’t know until the baby is born, or even further into development with some disorders. So we might have to do retroactive Genetic Engineering and also let surgery and advanced nutrition help the solution to the problem along. And while it might be possible to insert genetic material into every one of the trillion cells that make up a human, it still looks like a holy bitch to do with retroviruses or other chemicals. And then we would have to reconstruct, in some cases, entire Chromosomes made up of thousands of genes in order to make the necessary changes.
This is where nanotech would be the perfect complement to this kind of retroactive genetic engineering. Literally trillions of nanoscale robots could be introduced into the body of the person in need of changes, making their way into each individual cell and constructing genes, then cutting and splicing as necessary. One nanobot could accomplish the task of multiple retroviruses, and within a short period of time the genetic structures would be repaired. I don’t know if that would be enough to cure the person. In the case of disorders like Diabetes or other metabolic disorders I am pretty sure it would. In other cases the nanobots might have to make further structural changes. But I’m pretty sure we will work around whatever needs doing. There may be mistakes and problems, but I am sure the benefits will greatly outweigh the harm.
In my science fiction novel Diamonds in the Sand I use nanotech to retroactively engineer adults to give them animal like abilities. That may have been a simplistic approach, beyond the abilities of a single scientist or small group of them. But I found the idea intriguing, and in fiction we can explore those possibilities without having to delve to deeply into the problems that might have to be circumvented. And I believe the future truth will be much stranger than any fiction we might be writing today.
viruses
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I was discussing with friends on Facebook about how Zombies are more fantasy and are never really science fiction. Not putting down all the zombie movies, comics and books. In fact I enjoy them myself. In fact, as stated on an article on Cracked.com, there are very few movies that can’t be improved with the inclusion of a zombie horde. But I am not really planning on getting ready for the zombie apocalypse myself, unless some angry God decides to animate dead rotting creatures with no metabolism to speak of. I have guns in my house, and a sword, and a big fricken kukri knife honed to a razor edge. And I expect that, God forbid, they are never used, but if they are they will be used on living creatures. I think the problem is that a lot of people actually believe that zombies can rise from the dead due to some virus or disease. They probably think the same thing about werewolves and vampires. I disagree. I majored in biology before switching to geology, and then back to biology education before graduating in psychology.. And I then went back to school to take anatomy and physiology course for pre-nursing. And in none of those biology based classes was it ever mentioned that dead rotting bodies can come back to life with nonfunctional nervous or muscular systems because they are infected with some virus. They can’t digest what they eat because the digestive system doesn’t work. Their muscles won’t work because they can’t create, store or use ATP, and they also have a bit of a problem with calcium transport. Same with the nervous system. Now again, I am willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of the story, just as I am for giants and other too large creatures life flying dragons. But a good number of people in this country actually believe these supernatural creatures can be explained by scientific reasoning. Unfortunately that doesn’t work. I was talking to someone last week who was sure that rabies caused zombies. She said it stopped their hearts for two hours, and when they awoke they had an appetite for brains (a trope which came out of, well, I don’t know. Night of the Living Dead had them eat all of the human). I tried to explained that the brain would die, then went on to tell her that when everything rotted nothing would work. Her reply? Yeah, and then they rot and acted just like movie zombies. She didn’t hear a thing I said. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me, seeing as to the state of science education in this country.
Now prior to modern times most zombie tales revolved around Voodoo, some kind of magic or possession in which the victim might be dead, or could be something else, or some spell place on the dead, which was similar to bringing skeletons to life. I liked this explanation much better. I also write fantasy, and use the undead liberally. Now I suspend my own disbelief when I write fantasy. I don’t really think some angry Elder God will be waiting for me outside my house when I go to my car. Nor do I think a horde of skeletons is going to come out of the ground. But if, and this is a really big but if, undead exist, it will be due to some supernatural explanation, and not some impossible biological process. (Hey, I love Dritzz Do’Urden also, but I will be shocked, probably to death, if I ever see a jet black elf wielding double magical sabers outside of my house). The scientific explanation doesn’t hold water. If someone puts out a really good movie or book about a shambling horde of rotting bodies eating brains, and explains it as a virus, I will suspend disbelief and enjoy the story in the spirit in which it was written. But I won’t tell people after seeing or reading the work that, oh, that’s how it happens.
