Episode 0680 · Sep 24, 1999 · 2h 40m
September 24, 1999: Nanotechnology - Charles Ostman
Key Moments
Open transcriptY2K briefingWorld Bank insider called Ostman 'too conservative': Ostman recounts a closed-door Tech Trends 2000 committee where he briefed members of Congress, NASA, and a senior World Bank board member on Y2K. The senior banker's takeaway: Ostman's outlook was actually too optimistic, with cascading just-in-time supply chain failures expected three to five months out.
Truly smart weapons would pick their own targetsOstman argues U.S. military 'smart weapons' are merely precision-guided. A real smart weapon would seek targets of opportunity autonomously, decide a given target had higher value than alternatives, and strategize on its own - work he says is being financed at the Information Sciences Institute by DARPA.
DNA-on-a-chippersonalized drug response mapping: Ostman describes attaching a person's DNA to a chip and washing biological samples across it to read out, in real time, exactly which drugs and compounds that individual will respond to positively or negatively.
The 'quasi-viral component' as a molecular machineOstman walks Art through his 1993 paper proposing a quasi-viral component - an engineered molecular machine that mimics a virus's outer protein sheath to bind a single targeted cell type, hijacking the ribosome to deliver a custom payload.
The conversation shifts to artificial intelligence, where Ostman describes autonomous battlefield agents capable of strategizing and negotiating, as well as evolvable systems that learn from input stimuli. He explains how companies like Affymetrix are placing human DNA on silicon chips, creating biochip technology capable of precise diagnostics tailored to individual genetics. Ostman details how modified viruses called quasi-viral components could target specific cell types, with the protein P53 serving as a molecular switch to shut down cancerous cells.
Art raises the alarming possibility that engineered biological agents could mutate beyond their intended targets, creating what Ostman calls a "biological Y2K" scenario far more dangerous than any computer glitch. Both agree that policy and ethical frameworks lag dangerously behind the science.
Preserved source
From the original ArtBell.com archive
The 2003 commemorative archive preserves the contemporary listing for this broadcast. Links and descriptions reflect the original site and may be outdated.
View the original program listingContinue exploring