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I was prepared for a robot revolution. Now I fear a different kind of man-made monster, one more akin to the Chimera seen on The Island of Dr. Moreau and in this year's Sundance flick Splice. Why? Robots have fallen on hard times. While the military is scrapping plans for its own autonomous killing machines, guess what the Pentagon is up to? Trying to breed an army of synthetic organisms that can live forever.
In its 2011 budget, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has allocated $6 million for BioDesign, a project to create artificial life. The unclassified document doesn't say how the new life-forms will be used, but I'm guessing they won't be making biofuels or absorbing greenhouse gases. More likely, the agency is aiming for Moreau's ungodly brand of "divine human."
Here's what we know: they want to develop "a robust understanding of the collective mechanisms that contribute to cell death," so as to "enable a new generation of regenerative cells that could ultimately be programmed to live indefinitely." This could lead to one badass super-soldier.
The lab monsters will be made by inserting alien DNA into another organism's genome. No, wait: that's how they do it in sci-fi horror flicks like Species and Doom. We don't know what DNA they're using. Whatever it is, it will be traceable and "tamperproof" (presumably so the creatures can't be manipulated to aid the enemy). If you find yourself on the wrong end of this thing's hit list, Wired's Danger Room notes, there is a "self-destruct" option, to be implemented "upon nefarious removal of organism." In other words, think twice before you try to pull it off your face.
Should the creatures mutate, or try kill their creators or take over the world, there's a genetically coded kill switch. Of course, there were kill switchs in Jurassic Park, too: the dinos were bred without the ability to produce the amino acid lysine (so they would die if the park staff stopped feeding it to them), and they were all female (so they couldn't reproduce). But as their creator, John Hammond, learned, "Life will find a way."
Our best hope is that DARPA will decide to do its testing on a remote island or an abandoned space station. That way, the only victims will be the few poor souls who stumble upon it.
http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/2010/02/pentagon-synthetic-organism-splice.php
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2684925/biodesign_a_project_established_by.html?cat=15
"BioDesign" is a project which goal is to create artificial life forms that will live forever, or until they are allowed to die.
U.S. Department of Defense's, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2011 financial year will support 6 million dollar project, which aims to create artificial life forms. It is believed that such organisms could live virtually forever.
The new DARPA project, ordered by the Pentagon, is called "BioDesign". According to DARPA representatives, it will use the most recent developments in biotechnology and will permit genetic engineering to create living, breathing organisms capable of offering certain biological characteristics.
The Agency shall not publish whether these artificial organisms will be multicellular, it only highlights the fact that their cells will be resistant to the aging process and death. For example, cancer cells have similar characteristics.
These new creations will be introduced with DNA markers which will help to identify them similar as firearms are identified by the serial numbers. It also seeks to protect them from the activities of the program change.
DARPA also wants to introduce them with a "switch", which will act at the level of lasting cells and its purpose will be immediate self-destruction.
It is reported that DARPA is also planning to allocate 20 million dollars for the new synthetic biology program. The agency is planning to invest another 7.5 million dollars in genome analysis and acceleration of the exchange program.
In New York University Biology Professor David Fitch's view, DARPA seeks to change the viewpoint of evolution as a random sequence of events. However, the objective to create immortal beings can be too difficult. Recent developments in gene therapy, which were achieved by inserted artificial genes into the bodies of mice to increase cell longevity, prolonged their life by only 20 percent.
"BioDesign" program description is represented in the DARPA 2011 draft budget in page 265. ...
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