DARPA bringing zombies one step closer to reality.

[zombieparanoia]

http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/health-medicine/darpa-takes-suspended-animation-zombie-pigs-squirrels-and-hypersleep


Combine this with the latest advances in artificial intelligence and robotics its no wonder I wear tinfoil hats.

[Philly_SWAT]

http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/health-medicine/darpa-takes-suspended-animation-zombie-pigs-squirrels-and-hypersleep


Combine this with the latest advances in artificial intelligence and robotics its no wonder I wear tinfoil hats.

Interesting. It seems plausible to me that a mishap in this area of study could be the start of a real zombie-like outbreak.

[FoodFight]

Are there any 'zombie squirrel' stories in the fiction section?

[rongravy]

Bring on the outbreak. It'd shake some things up a bit.
They better be slow, though, because I've only kicked the smoking habit a few weeks or so.

I was kinda thinking Haiti would be a great place for it all to start. All those bodies lying around, and all that voodoo action. There might still be a few live chickens waiting to be sacrificed...

[zombieparanoia]

Hmmm, unkillable bioweapons, what could go wrong?

I think this would make a hell of a "how it began" for a zombie movie/story.

Its almost as though these guys are reading scifi horror books and saying "You know, I bet we could make something like that"

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/pentagon-looks-to-breed-immortal-synthetic-organisms-molecular-kill-switch-included/

[Wyldwraith]

Well,
Just to cite history concerning weapons technology breakthroughs. The lesson is immutable. If we don't do it and then be prepared to use it as the very deterrent we threaten others with to force them NOT to do it, someone else will.

Just look at the motivational factors that influenced many eventual Manhattan Project members who were initially vehement in their opposition of fission-weapons. When word got out the Nazis were pushing hard to get the A-bomb, their moral objections ceased and they hopped on board to make sure America got the Bomb first.

How's this any different? I mean, do we really want China to develop this technology while we abstain due to the whining/screeching/nagging of the irritating bio-ethics folks?

I don't worry so much about China actually using any advanced weaponry they develop, I worry about their habit of selling deadly weapons to all sorts of unsavory characters. North Korea? Yea, there's a guy I want to have unkillable weaponized bio-constructs. Or how about Iran & Co?

I'm a big believer in wanting my country to have the most lethal weaponry possible. May not save us, but I derive comfort from the idea that we have the means to turn the land of whoever did us in into a burnt cinder.

Bio-weaponry is at least far more scalpel-like than current WMDs. I would FAR prefer we continue the trend towards limited-scope precision weaponry. Advanced weapons of this sort are the world's only hope of being rid of WMDs for the most part. Ethics have failed, so our best hope is to drive the WMDs into mothballs via obsolescence. That won't happen until first-world nations are confident they can maintain their military supremacy without such crudely indiscriminate weapons.

Which is not to say I think mad scientists like these won't be the death of us. Of course they will. Look how much suffering has been caused simply by crossbreeding bees. Still, it's an interesting concept. Even if it does have more destructive potential than Jurassic Park + Aliens/Xenomorphs.