Re: why 'Martians' should be bipeds (some WoW spoiler)

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> I think you're assuming too much about the method of elimination. Suppose
> Martian biotech is advanced enough that they've created, essentially, a 
> smarter
> white blood cell, either genetically modified themselves or created a 
> nanobot
> that is designed to monitor and kill any and all hostile infections?

I don't think this would stop the eternal problem of how to _recognize_ a 
hostile infection as such. For example, some bacteria (was it leprosy... I 
forgot) disguise themselves as cartilage/connective tissue. (Capsule made of 
hyaluronic acid.) This can't be recognized as foreign because it simply 
isn't.

Of course these bacteria stay sensitive to antibiotics -- but show me any 
currently used antibiotic, and I'll show you a strain of pathogen that is 
immune to it. The lecture "Introduction into Genetics" mentioned a strain of 
bacteria, isolated from a hospital infection, that was immune to 5 or so 
antibiotics plus mercury at once, the resistance genes being packed into 
transposons -- which means all those genes, alone or in packages, can easily 
jump between species.

Sure, things like eradicating smallpox are possible. But, in the long run, I 
think you can speed up the arms race, but you can't outsmart evolution --  
because evolution uses smarter methods than mere intelligence. "Life will 
find a way." <feeble attempt at getting back to the topic>