On 27 Feb 2016 8:24 pm, <xxxxxx@shadowgard.com> wrote:
>
> On 27 Feb 2016 at 8:00, Timothy Collinson wrote:
>
> > I was thinking about this in relation to some invented disease or
> > syndrome (and a couple of other things).  So yes, I would like to
> > think that by the 57th century Chronic Fatigue Syndrome will be
> > easily curable BUT there will still be *something* <insert fancy
> > name> that might have whatever medical or debilitating effect you're
> > looking for in a game.  (See the "Skefflig's Syndrome" I put into the
> > adventure All in the Genes).
>
> So we understand the complete human genome, and can fix errors at
> will. And understand DNA in general well enough to figure out new
> critters and design our own.
>
> If we can do that then there will be "my home geneering kit" and
> folks can design diseases, etc to order.
>
> Or folks can design viruses to "fix" or "cure" things and and while
> they are fine, what happens when two or more get into the same person
> may not be.
>
> Great example of that last is Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy.
>
> as part of the background, somebody developed a cure for some forms
> of cancer that was a modified version of the Marburg virus ("Marburg
> Amberlee"). It was safe it couldn't survive in the wild, the patients
> had to be fed some special amino acid or something or it couldn't
> reproduce.
>
> A guy named Kellis was working on a cure for the common cold. it was
> another virus intended to spread much like colds do. It was still in
> the testing stage when some well meaning idiots broke into the lab
> and released it into the wild. ("They've got a cure for the cold!
> They must be withholding it because of the [fill in conspiracy
> theory]").
>
> The Kellis virus *did* cure the common cold. Alas it spread to
> someone who was undergoing treatment with the Marburg-Amberlee virus.
> Amnd as sometimes happens, the viruses liked each other and sort of
> scroo-bred (yes, this does happen).
>
> The result was Kellis-Amberlee.
>
> It still prevented the common cold. And cured some cancers.
>
> But if someone carrying it (ie most of the population) got sufficient
> damage, they underwent "viral amplification". Which turned it from a
> passive infection to an active one. And for all intents and purposes
> turned the body into a zombie.
>
> This results in a zombie apocalypse. The books start around 20 years
> *after* that.No, they haven't found a cure. And btw, anyy mammal over
> 50 pounds can be affected.
>
> That sort of thing could still happen even with the sort of genetic
> engineering I described above. Because both virii were fine. It was
> an unexpected *interaction* that did the damage. Of course, with that
> level of geneering, they could probably whip up a cure fairly fast.
> But there'd still be problems.
>
> To paraphrase something someone said a few decades back "The higher
> the TL the easier it is for an 'average person' to cause the end of
> the world."
>

Love the idea.  Not sure I fancy reading the books - or are they not as dark as they sound!?

tc