Its a typical forensic problem. The essence is being able to know it was not
a natural phenomena. It is pattern detection. Sometimes patterns come from
nature. Other times they do not. Knowing the difference is part of of what
science and math is about.
It is forensically similar to detecting that a handprint found inside the
Roman viaducts (in the concrete) was made by a Roman worker and not by an
ape or animal and not just blown in on the wind. One is able to determine
the originator of the handprint was there. One does not need to know
anything about the originator himself. One does not have to know if he was
a soldier; if he paid his taxes or cheated on them; if he beat his wife,
if supported the empire or was a republican. Those are beyond the reach of
forensics. But the presence of the originator (non-natural origin of
information) is not beyond the reach of forensics.
Different people will form differing opinions on the nature of the
originator as a function of what they add from other sources (sources that
are not themselves part of the forensic evidence.) This does not negate the
forensics.
On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 11:17 AM, David Opderbeck <dopderbeck@gmail.com>
wrote:
> See here: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=longest-piece-of-dna-yet
>
> And note this: "The scientists disabled the gene that gave the bug power
> to infect human cells, and they added a few "watermarks," short strips of
> signature genetic code that identify the product as man-made."
>
> Let's say civilization as we know it collapses, this bug escapes into the
> wild and continues to evolve, and scientists working in a rebuilt society in
> the far future reconstruct the evolved bug's genetic history. Would they be
> able to conclude that it was originally designed?
>
> --
> David W. Opderbeck
> Associate Professor of Law
> Seton Hall University Law School
> Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology
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Received on Mon Jun 9 01:59:44 2008
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Mon Jun 09 2008 - 01:59:44 EDT