The Exploit: A Theory of Networks - asounder

Edges 133
proteins, processes that commonly occur in the living cell. The current
status of molecular biology labs enables the layering of one network
onto the other, so that the biological network of gene expression,
for instance, might literally be mapped onto the informatic
network of the Internet. The aim would thus be to “stretch” a cell
across the Internet. At location A, a DNA sample in a test tube
would be encoded using a genome sequencing computer. A network
utility would then take the digital file containing the DNA sequence
and upload it to a server (or relay it via a peer - to - peer application).
A similar utility would receive that file and then download it at location
B, from which an oligonucleotide synthesizer (a DNA synthesis
machine) would produce the DNA sequence in a test tube. On the
one hand, this would be a kind of molecular teleportation, requiring
specialized protocols (and RFCs), not FTP, not http, but BmTP, a
biomolecular transport protocol. Any node on the BmTP network
would require three technologies: a sequencing computer for encoding
(analog to digital), software for network routing (digital to digital),
and a DNA synthesizer for decoding (digital to analog). If this is
feasible, then it would effectively demonstrate the degree to which a
single informatic paradigm covers what used to be the mutually exclusive
domains of the material and the immaterial, the biological
and the informatic, the organism and its milieu.
Fork Bomb III
#!/usr/bin/perl
while (push(@X,fork) && (rand(1.1) $$) ? print “O”x@X : print “o”x@X;
}
}
Unknown Unknowns
Fredric Jameson wrote: it is easier to imagine the deterioration of the
earth and of nature than the end of capitalism. The nonbeing of the
present moment is by far the hardest thing to imagine. How could