3 ms·
not to be that guy, but is protein mapping for the masses a potentially dangerous technology of mass destruction?
by SubiculumCode 3y ago
not to be that guy, but is protein mapping for the masses a potentially dangerous technology of mass destruction?
- COGlory 3y agoProbably not. Plenty of toxic proteins have a published structure and are quite easy to grow in a lab (i.e. an undergraduate could do it). The problem with using proteins to do evil things is that they tend to have short half-lives, aren't easily transmissible, etc. There are some exceptions to this, of course, but there's far more practical ways to do evil things.
- dekhn 3y agoIt seems implausible, and weighed against the probability of positive scientific discoveries made with the technology, it seems reasonable to proceed with caution. Back when I was a maker i talked with the FBI and they said they knew it was OK/legal to work on viruses in your garage, "but just be sure to let us know if you see somebody doing something dangerous"