Date sent: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 11:21:34 -0800
From: Loree Thomas <lthomas1@uswest.net>
To: extropians@extropy.com
Subject: Re: Viruses
Send reply to: extropians@extropy.com
> david gobel wrote:
> >
> > Joe Dees
> >
> > Thank you so much for a real answer...
> >
> > Mitochondria and chloroplasts are suspected of having once been
> > biotic parasites; today's virulence may bud and bloom into
> > tomorrows symbience.
>
> Hmm.. it's difficult to worry about what *may* occur in the course of
> "natural" evolution when we have (or will soon have) the means to
> consciously direct evolution.
>
> If we do eradicate every virus, and it later turns out we need a few of
> them to solve a particular problem, wouldn't we just create them?
>
> Loree Thomas
>
It's a lot easier to reverse-engineer them from observed behaviors
than to create them from scratch for specific purposes.
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