NC State plays GOD with roaches.

Go to 3:36.

 

I don't know. This seems like it would make for a huge seller with Halloween coming up. Just think of the fun you could have!

 

Uhm, this--->"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should" --The Wise Jeff Goldblum

 

It's roaches. They are the demon spawn. They deserve this.

Maybe now we can control all the roaches and guide them into a vat of acid.

 

that was...like...deep, man.

 

Good. I am one step closer to amassing my roach army.

 

God seems to be willing to tolerate free will, so in that way (and many others) this isn't "playing God", which typically amounts to making decisions over life and death.

I don't see this as being anything of any real practical use at any rate.

That wasn't deep, and never EVER was.

 

I disagree. Until we can advance our ability to engineer robots at this scale which are effective in these types of recovery missions, this seems to be the best possible option. I'm amazed at the simplicity of the mechanisms involved. This could prove extremely useful in the near future (though its utility may be limited in time with the advance of nanotechnology), not to mention cost-effective.

With respect to those questioning the ethical merit of this technology: what is the problem, exactly?

 

That's assuming it will work.

 

Adam West Batman- The Roach King! That dastardly fiend!

 

It would appear I struck a nerve of some sort.

 

Obviously.

 

I'm assuming that it won't.

 

....why?

 

Because it sets off my ******** detector too much? Is skeptism yet another thing I need to defend where others have the option not to?

 

Why do you think it's ********?

 

How are you defining, "work," in this case? There are two ways your statement can be interpreted:

1) You're saying that they can't control the motion of the cockroaches to begin with.

OR

2) You're saying that even if they do manage to control the motion of the cockroaches that the application will fail.


Given your first statement (that you don't see this as being of any practical use), the first interpretation doesn't make any sense. The second is the only one I can see as being congruent with your first statement (and even then, if we're supposed to take the initial comment at face-value, that's a stretch).

So what exactly do you mean?

 

You don't need to do anything. They're just asking the question. It's not unreasonable to assume that you might have some more concrete reasoning than, "Just a hunch," when you present opposition to a given idea. So I don't understand why you're getting so defensive.

 

Can't they make some kind of world wide device to control all roaches & make them travel to a Volcano or something like that & burn ?

 

1. "Just a hunch" is enough.
2. In a ****** mood, sorry about bringing it here.