04 May 2006
No-mow grass may be coming to your yard soon

I've mentioned technologies like this before. It seems to me that what these "bio-engineers" don't really get is that there is a fundamental difference between biological systems and mechanical/electronic systems. The latter cannot reproduce themselves: one atom bomb cannot and will not automatically turn into two then four, then eight ... but that is eactly the sole natural purpose of life - to create more life.

Now, I'm sure proponents of this kind of thing would argue that they're engineering sterility as well as other safeguards to prevent the spread of the hacked genetics. But because of the very nature of the processes involved, they cannot make any mistakes: one missed vector for propagation is all it's gonna take to create some serious, potentially catastrophic havoc.

We're going to do these kinds of things no matter how much I or others of like mind protest. I can only hope that the engineers involved are as good as they think they are, as the effects of a bio-disaster could make a full scale nuclear war look like a picnic in the park.

For anyone tethered to a lawnmower, the Holy Grail of horticultural accomplishment would be grass that never grows but is always green.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

23:00 /Agriculture | 3 comments | permanent link