"Bruce Sterling - Our Neural Chernobyl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sterling Bruce)

recombinant DNA research.
It was during this period that the world first became
aware that the AIDS retrovirus was a fantastic blessing in
a particularly hideous disguise. This disease, which dug
itself with horrible, virulent cunning into the very genetic
structure of its victims, proved a medical marvel when
finally broken to harness. The AIDS virus's RNA
transcriptase system proved an able workhorse,
successfully carrying healing segments of recombinant
DNA into sufferers from a myriad of genetic defects.
Suddenly one ailment after another fell to the miracle of
RNA transcriptase techniques: sickle-cell anemia, cystic
fibrosis, Tay-Sachs diseaseтАФliterally hundreds of
syndromes now only an unpleasant memory.
As billions poured into the biotech industry, and the
instruments of research were simplified, an unexpected
dynamic emerged: the rise of "gene-hacking." As Dr.
Hotton points out, the situation had a perfect parallel in
the 1970s and 1980s in the subculture of computer
hacking. Here again was an enormously powerful
technology suddenly within the reach of the individual.
As biotech companies multiplied, becoming ever
smaller and more advanced, a hacker subculture rose
around this "hot technology" like a cloud of steam. These
ingenious, anomic individuals, often led into a state of
manic self-absorption by their ability to dice with genetic
destiny, felt no loyalty to social interests higher than their
own curiosity. As early as the 1980s, devices such as
high-performance liquid chromatographs, cell-culture
systems, and DNA sequencers were small enough to fit
into a closet or attic. If not bought from junkyards,
diverted, or stolen outright, they could be reconstructed
from off-the-shelf parts by any bright and determined
teenager.
Dr. Hotton's second chapter explores the background
of one such individual: Andrew ("Bugs") Berenbaum,
now generally accepted as the perpetrator of the neural
chernobyl.
 Bugs Berenbaum, as Dr. Hotton convincingly shows,
was not much different from a small horde of similar
bright young misfits surrounding the genetic
establishments of North Carolina's Research Triangle. His
father was a semi-successful free-lance programmer, his
mother a heavy marijuana user whose life centered
around her role as "Lady Anne of Greengables" in
Raleigh's Society for Creative Anachronism.
Both parents maintained a flimsy pretense of
intellectual superiority, impressing upon Andrew the
belief that the family's sufferings derived from the general
stupidity and limited imagination of the average citizen.