#
On 20 May 2001, at 7:28, Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
>
> John Marlow wrote:
>
> > So--biological enhancements will it seems be outlawed for now--and
> > weapons will not. Three cheers for government.
>
> John, you should put a smiley on that. The government hasn't
> outlawed "biological enhancements". Its only "considering"
> outlawing a narrow definition of "cloning" which affects
> the reproduction rights of infertile couples much more than
> it impacts anything most extropians or transhumanists would
> like to do.
>
#True--but the kind of ban they're calling for is indicative of the
shortsighted, knee-jerk minset.
> Now, re:
> > NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Bush administration review is recommending the
> > United States not support a draft agreement to enforce an
> > international treaty banning biological weapons, Sunday's New York
> > Times reports, quoting an unidentified senior official.
>
> We should watch to see if anything concrete turns up about *why*
> the recommendation came out that way. I can see why one
> wouldn't want to sign a treaty that gave an illusion of
> safety that really wasn't there. The "negotiators" in
> Geneva could all pack up and go home and you would never
> get any real increase in security at all.
#Yup. On the other hand, it's more likely just looking for an excuse
to duck compliance. Remember (if memory serves) the last Bush's
instructions to Our Man In Japan on global warming--stall, delay,
don't sign nothin'?
>
> This may be the tip of the iceberg on why you cannot (effectively)
> legislate against nanotech (enforcement is futile). Though if
> you had quasi-ubiquitous surveillance based on MEMS-based robotic
> cameras and a *lot* of sophisticated computers analyzing what
> they see, you might be able to police biotech/nanotech labs.
> It would be a pretty unpleasant environment for someone such
> as myself to work in but there are probably people who could
> adapt to it.
#This kind of solution may be scarier than gray goo.
"May you live in interesting times," eh?
>
> Robert
>
John Marlow
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