viruses

[rocetboy321]

so i was just wondering what some other people thought about this.
i am a current student at mit, and happened to notice on the home page that some other students engineered a virus.
heres the link

web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/antibiotic-resistance-0302.html

now what i have been thinking is that the "devil" created viruses. why?
-well viruses are not regarded as being completely alive.
-they HAVE to use another cell to replicate and a lot are very harmful
-MAN can engineer them

just wondering if anyone has thought this before and what ppl think. sorry if this is the wrong place for this, I am new to this forum

 

[Jester4kicks]

so i was just wondering what some other people thought about this.
i am a current student at mit, and happened to notice on the home page that some other students engineered a virus.
heres the link

web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/antibiotic-resistance-0302.html

now what i have been thinking is that the "devil" created viruses. why?
-well viruses are not regarded as being completely alive.
-they HAVE to use another cell to replicate and a lot are very harmful
-MAN can engineer them

just wondering if anyone has thought this before and what ppl think. sorry if this is the wrong place for this, I am new to this forum

I'm not sure which is more confusing... this post, or the idea that someone going to MIT could possibly think the devil is responsible for creating viruses.

 

[OldManAnon]

I'm not sure which is more confusing... this post, or the idea that someone going to MIT could possibly think the devil is responsible for creating viruses.

I'll take door number 2.

 

[Fed]

In other news, MIT admissions standards plummeted in recent years.

 

[TemperateSeaIsland]

Come on guys no need to flame the guy on his first post. To an atheist like me his idea isn't that much different to what Christians in general believe. If you think God made the universe is it any way crazier that some believe the Devil created some of the nastier things?

 

[Cabal]

so i was just wondering what some other people thought about this.
i am a current student at mit, and happened to notice on the home page that some other students engineered a virus.
heres the link

web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/antibiotic-resistance-0302.html

now what i have been thinking is that the "devil" created viruses. why?
-well viruses are not regarded as being completely alive.
-they HAVE to use another cell to replicate and a lot are very harmful
-MAN can engineer them

just wondering if anyone has thought this before and what ppl think. sorry if this is the wrong place for this, I am new to this forum

Cool article.

Regarding your thoughts on the devil creating viruses.

- The technical definition of life isn't perfect, and viruses tend to fall through the cracks. Personally, I think I'd wait for a better definition of "alive" before I begin introducing the devil.
- Yes, they have to use another cell to replicate, and some of them ARE harmful, but I would say harnessing them to squish antibiotic resistant bacteria is a pretty good thing, as are the other beneficial uses of viruses (cell biology, nanotech etc). Like pretty much everything in life, they can be used for good or evil. Also, given that viruses are in no way sentient, I'm reluctant to evaluate them using our human moral standards.
- Not sure how I feel about your last statement - anything that man can engineer is from the devil? Technology is neutral - applications can be good or evil.

 

[Mystman]

Technology is neutral - applications can be good or evil.

Well, that certainly is debatable. A technology or item will often have an intended use, or restricted set of possible uses.

Like, the intended use of a nuclear weapon, and almost all of the possible uses of a nuclear weapon would be:

- threatening to kill people with it
- actually killing people with it

If you would describe both those uses as "evil", then the item itself is "evil", since it can only be used for evil purposes (or so my Technology Ethics professor stated it anyway )

Now, I personally wouldn't describe killing people as an absolute evil (i.e., it might be considered 'good' in some circumstances), so I also wouldn't describe a nuclear bomb as evil. But if your religion states that killing is always evil, then a nuclear bomb is also evil.

And moving this back to the OP somewhat; if you think that mankind is only capable of doing evil things (like Calvinists do?), then surely any item made to aid humans in doing stuff is also only capable of doing evil things. And thus, any manmade item would be inherently evil.

 

[Hespera]

Well, that certainly is debatable. A technology or item will often have an intended use, or restricted set of possible uses.

Like, the intended use of a nuclear weapon, and almost all of the possible uses of a nuclear weapon would be:

- threatening to kill people with it
- actually killing people with it

If you would describe both those uses as "evil", then the item itself is "evil", since it can only be used for evil purposes (or so my Technology Ethics professor stated it anyway )

Now, I personally wouldn't describe killing people as an absolute evil (i.e., it might be considered 'good' in some circumstances), so I also wouldn't describe a nuclear bomb as evil. But if your religion states that killing is always evil, then a nuclear bomb is also evil.

And moving this back to the OP somewhat; if you think that mankind is only capable of doing evil things (like Calvinists do?), then surely any item made to aid humans in doing stuff is also only capable of doing evil things. And thus, any manmade item would be inherently evil.

A nuclear bomb has other possible uses!

If an asteroid is ever headed our way for example.

Also, there was a Project Orion years ago exploring the use of nuclear explosions to propel a spaceship.

It sounds outlandish but the physics work out. "The Curve of Binding Energy" (McPhee) has a good discussion on it from a non technical point of view.

We probably wont ever see such a thing launched from earth (though the series of explosions would be the most spectacular thing anyone ever saw!) Perhaps, though a craft assembled in space could then proceed that way. I hope they do it at night....

Anyhow, "evil" is not a word that applies to any object. Just to people.

 

[Cabal]

Well, I could have phrased that better. But I think only sentient beings can come close to something that resembles malevolence. Viruses, pieces of kit, and theories aren't sentient in and of themselves.

Let's not forget the Cold War mining schemes where both sides excavated using nuclear bombs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaceful_nuclear_explosions

 

[atomweaver]

In other news, MIT admissions standards plummeted in recent years.

Nawww. There are plenty of very talented MIT engineers that demonstrate gross incompetence in understanding rudimentary biology (and chemistry for that matter). This detracts not one whit from their talents as engineers, rather it demonstrates that engineering simply offers a poor perspective for understanding biology.

 

[ragarth]

If we assume that God and Satan exist, then viruses cannot be a creation of Satan because they are critical to our survival. There is a school of thought that viruses help mediate our immune responses to allergens, and part of the reason we're seeing a rise in allergies to common substances is due to the use of vaccines. Another important fact about viruses is that they play a potential role in evolution of species. An ancient virus called HERV-w infects our ancestors a long time ago and it's dna was engogenized into our own. A piece of that HERV-w virus's code is now a critical part of trophoblast fusion in human development before birth. Deactivate herv-w and you get problems, so viruses, while potentially harmful, are also beneficial.

 

[Hespera]

If we assume that God and Satan exist, then viruses cannot be a creation of Satan because they are critical to our survival. There is a school of thought that viruses help mediate our immune responses to allergens, and part of the reason we're seeing a rise in allergies to common substances is due to the use of vaccines. Another important fact about viruses is that they play a potential role in evolution of species. An ancient virus called HERV-w infects our ancestors a long time ago and it's dna was engogenized into our own. A piece of that HERV-w virus's code is now a critical part of trophoblast fusion in human development before birth. Deactivate herv-w and you get problems, so viruses, while potentially harmful, are also beneficial.

Consider the Lillies of the Field

http://www.curezone.org/upload/parasites/eye_worm.jpg

 

[rocetboy321]

thanks to those who are actually constructive.
i had just thought of the idea working on a school project last year. wondering what some others thought.

 

[Radagast]

now what i have been thinking is that the "devil" created viruses.

That would be an unorthodox position for a Christian. The devil cannot create anything, he is himself a created being.

 

[ranmaonehalf]

I'm not sure which is more confusing... this post, or the idea that someone going to MIT could possibly think the devil is responsible for creating viruses.

See its clearly that the Devil is responsible for Germ and evolution theory.

 

[Jester4kicks]

See its clearly that the Devil is responsible for Germ and evolution theory.

I dunno... didn't some guys from MIT just create the first robot that is capable of replicating itself?

Them boys at MIT are the devil! You stay away from them boys!