EXTRA!

April 14, 2003

NICHOLAS REGUSH. RFD EDITOR, RESPONDS TO THE ARTICLE, "THOUGHTS FROM THE HOT ZONE: GIVE ME A NEW IMMUNE SYSTEM"

We ran the above article at RFD because it represents what I would call a "techno-prayer." The notion that one day, a new technology will emerge that will have the power to prevent epidemics.

Simon Smith, the author of the piece, and editor of the intriguing and always thought-provoking website, betterhumans.com, expects that robots will one day patrol our bloodstreams and neutralize pathogens. In other words, these devices, which he refers to as "microbivores," will provide humans with a better immune system.

He writes this piece in response to the SARS epidemic which he calls a "warning shot." And closing hospitals, wearing masks, stopping air travel, he contends, will "never prevent an epidemic from wiping out swaths of people."

Unfortunately, the microbivores, on which he pins his hopes, "are nowhere near reality."

But, hey so what? We can dream. Who can argue with the Sociology of the Possible? Nanobots will likely one day be as common as peanuts.

However, there is still a strong slice of Unreality about this futuristic vision, as it implicitly ignores the likelihood that our world of toxicity, disease, turbulence and high destruction will germinate newer and larger threats that make current ones seem rather mundane.

A new immune system? Nah. We need a new planet.

Thoughts From A Hot Zone: Give Me A New Immune System