X-Message-Number: 5644
From:  (Malcolm McMahon)
Newsgroups: sci.life-extension,sci.cryonics
Subject: Re: Lethal Bacteria
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 14:30:59 GMT
Message-ID: <>
References: <>

On Thu, 18 Jan 1996 11:34:51 +0100, John de Rivaz
<> wrote:

>
>My comment is that Nanotechnology would probably provide a more effective 
>way of exterminating bacteria, and no amount of evolution would get round 
>it. However the human race may not be allowed to survive long enough to 
>develop it. A global epidemic may not kill everyone, because once mass 
>transit systems fail the diseases will be isolated. But an isolated post 
>technological society, possibly without even electricity, will never 
>develop Nanotechnology.
>-- 

It's not quite that bad. After all humanity survived _before_
anti-biotice were invented: At worst bacteria are just "uninventing"
them. Basically the natural antibiotics were a limited resource which
we are now close to exhausting, mostly because they used to be used
far too freely. In particular the squandering of anti-biotics for
agricultural (non-vetinary) purposes has been inexcusable.

But there's a lot of quite promising work being done on "designer"
antibiotics which should not only be very diverse but also harder for
bacteria to evolve resistance to.

As MRSC becomes more of a problem I'd expect attacks on it to be
developed using, e.g. monoclonal antibodies and so on.

BTW from what I here the hospitals were hushing up MRSC long before
the Torries reorganised them.

Don't count on nanotech being the ultimate magic bullet by the way.
Namomachines will probably have to distinguish friend from foe in much
the kind of tactile way that antibodies do. And that's before some
loon invents the first nano-disease.
---------------------------------+----------------------------------
I was born weird:  This terrible | Like Pavlov's dogs we are trained
compulsion to behave normally is | to salivate at the sound of the
the result of childhood trauma.  | liberty bell.
---------------------------------+----------------------------------
Malcolm


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