Bio-Computers

An article at HuffPo tells us that researchers have now been able to convert individual biological cells into micro-computers which potentially can be programmed to shut down which could be an enormous advance in cancer treatment. This is a wonderful development, but the fact that cells can be manipulated in this fashion is both amazing and a little scary. Here's the lede from the article:

Researchers at Stanford University announced this week that they've created genetic receptors that can act as a sort of "biological computer," potentially revolutionizing how diseases are treated.

In a paper published in the journal "Science" on Friday, the team described their system of genetic transistors, which can be inserted into living cells and turned on and off if certain conditions are met. The researchers hope these transistors could eventually be built into microscopic living computers. Said computers would be able to accomplish tasks like telling if a certain toxin is present inside a cell, seeing how many times a cancerous cell has divided or determining precisely how an administered drug interacts with each individual cell.

Once the transistor determines the conditions are met, it could then be used to make the cell, and many other cells around it, do a specific thing--like telling cancerous cells to destroy themselves.

"We're going to be able to put computers into any living cell you want," lead researcher at the Stanford School of Engineering Drew Endy explained to the San Jose Mercury News. "We're not going to replace the silicon computers. We're not going to replace your phone or your laptop. But we're going to get computing working in places where silicon would never work."

There's more to the article at the link, including a couple of videos that explain how these genetic receptors work. The scary part of this is what, if anything, it portends for humanity if our bodies could ever be turned into walking computers. Could we become immortal, able to ward off all the effects of aging? Would we still be human? What, indeed, would it mean to be human if every cell in our bodies is subject to outside control? Would someone be able to control the thoughts and actions of the entire human race simply by having access to the computers which control the cells?

It's astonishing to consider the kinds of questions societies may be faced with in the not too distant future, and it's disturbing to think that society is in the process of developing these Promethean technologies while at the same time spurning the only Source they could possibly have for giving them moral guidance as to how these technologies should be used.