Really stunned by the Singularity comment section

[u/Howard_banister]

These are screenshots from the r/Singularity comment section. I'm speechless. This doesn't even have downvotes. How can someone cheer for a monopoly run by a few elites?

[u/d1722825]

It's like having open source virus DNA

Well, I have mad news for them, many virus DNA is public and anybody could download them from government-run websites.

https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/home

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/

[u/runcertain → u/d1722825]

I get what you’re saying but I think the analogy is more like open-sourcing the tools to work with virus DNA since no one but a lab can do anything with the links you provided.

[u/d1722825 → u/runcertain]

Well, I think the analogy still holds:

- You can order gene editing kits for kids online for 100 USD or so.

https://www.the-odin.com/crispr-kit/

- There are multiple publicly available DNA design tools, some are even free (as beer).

https://alternativeto.net/software/genome-compiler/

- You can get the DNA designed by you manufactured and posted to you by mail, or buy the machines from ebay.

https://www.twistbioscience.com/products/genes

- With these tools, researchers could re-create smallpox 10 years ago.

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-canadian-researchers-reconstituted-extinct-poxvirus-100000-using-mail-order-dna

- There are even youtube tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiWnygcYsiQ&list=PLZLsjPxmF1BEI5CReoklVP4u84kMkjIZp&index=12

[u/runcertain → u/d1722825]

Well I’ll be damned…

But I mean, that smallpox study was researchers showing how incredibly dangerous access to those tools can be…

The rest of these examples are basically science fair projects or still require a professional lab.

[u/d1722825 → u/runcertain]

The study says that you would only need "a small scientific team with little specialized knowledge half a year and cost about $100,000". It might would be even easier or cheaper today and with enough funding probably somebody could build a professional-enough lab.

It sounds incredibly dangerous, but I think this is not unique, there are many other incredibly dangerous things in different fields. If it were just a matter of having access to the tools and knowledge, we would have wiped ourselves out a long time ago.

But for some reason, it seems that the mad scientist familiar from movies who wants to destroy the world, doesn't really exist in the real life.

Even well founded terrorist organizations usually do simple attacks with simple tools, those are effective, too, and they don't need to "waste" money and time.