Genetic Mutation in HIV: Tim Barrus in the New York Times

I’m with anything that will take out HIV. That particular species should be burned crisper than toast, slashed, nuked, bombed, extinguished, executed, shot by drones, mutated out of existence, and squashed. I’m with eradication.

But what about the rogue nation that keeps the virus around. Like us.

But what about the rogue nation that wants to nuke, bomb, and extinguish other nations that are not the same color, the same religion, of the same indelible hatreds, the same rogue ideologies that rationalize the same violence that is endemic and ingrained in dominate societies.

The same forms of death and murder that we have always had. Who will protect us from ourselves. The HIV virus mutates faster than we are able to keep up with on a population level where massive data will make the difference. Who will own this data. Who will own the collecting mechanisms. Who will own the technology to introduce mutation after mutation after mutation. Who will be the last man standing when all of this costs less than a dime.

Where is the evidence to suggest that intelligence itself is not up for grabs in a world where everything is already up for grabs. This is called chaos. Chaos has infected our species since the development of language. Where is the evidence to suggest we cannot mutate our way into the genetic development of a language where only the mutated can speak in code. Advantage is an abstraction in play.

Obviously, we will mutate ourselves out of existence. One can only hope.

https://timbarrus.tumblr.com

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/magazine/gene-drive-mosquitoes.html#commentsContainer&permid=104529789:104529789