what could go wrong?

[deflective]

life's gonna get interesting

[cxJvak]

Is this really so weird?
Since necessity is the mother of invention, how many inventions have been produced at home? I really don't see this as much different than purchasing wood at a lumbar yard to build your own bookcase. True the tools are a bit different, but only because we didn't know or have access to these tools before.

"In Cambridge, Mass., a group called DIYbio is setting up a community lab where the public could use chemicals and lab equipment, including a used freezer, scored for free off Craigslist, that drops to 80 degrees below zero, the temperature needed to keep many kinds of bacteria alive. "

This is smart. The community lab is the way to go to provide safety. It's like the needle exchange program. People will do what they want, so let's find a safe way for them to do it.
I think this is essentially a good idea. Because these people haven't been taught the limitations of their products they will think of new things that haven't been tried before.

My husband told me a story once about a kid who was late for math class. He copied down the three homework problems from the board and left. What he didn't know was one was an unsolvable equation. He solved it.

[Heradel]

It doesn't really seem that different from the hackerspaces that have been cropping up in major cities. More biomass, less solder.

[slic]

Wierd? No I suppose not.  Frightening?  It is to me.

Read White Plague by Frank Herbert for a reasonably realistic possibility.  And I'm not even worried about the terrorists - it's the well intentioned intelligent misfit who thinks everyone will what a cure for the common cold and ends up unleashing some contagious crippling disease.

I'm in favour of nuclear power, but not in having people play with reactors in their garages.

[Heradel]

[...]
I'm in favour of nuclear power, but not in having people play with reactors in their garages.

Too Late.

[wakela]

Is it easy or hard to make a deadly pathogen?  I really don't know.  I'm just remembering that we were afraid a computer would take over the world about the time the Atari 2600 came out.

[Windup]

Is this really so weird?
Since necessity is the mother of invention, how many inventions have been produced at home? I really don't see this as much different than purchasing wood at a lumbar yard to build your own bookcase. True the tools are a bit different, but only because we didn't know or have access to these tools before.

Well, your self-built bookcase can't get up under its own power, walk out the door, and propogate in a potentially unlimited fashion in the wild.  Your self-built microbe, potentially, can. 

That being said, people will do what people can do, so I agree that it's a good idea to get it out in the open and provide something vaguely resembling adult supervision.  One way or another, things are going to get interesting...

[CGFxColONeill]

Is it easy or hard to make a deadly pathogen?  I really don't know.  I'm just remembering that we were afraid a computer would take over the world about the time the Atari 2600 came out.

people still are, did any one see eagle eye for example?

[izzardfan]

Is it easy or hard to make a deadly pathogen?  I really don't know.  I'm just remembering that we were afraid a computer would take over the world about the time the Atari 2600 came out.

people still are, did any one see eagle eye for example?

Yep, just last week.  Of course, just imagine Hal from 2001 if he hadn't been out in space....

[Clutron]

I guess I lean towards the idea that people splicing genes of anything in their garage is a little scarier than exciting...however, what are the odds that they succeed?  Or fail and release a super killer bacteria?...I don't know, but probably not good.

I do agree with the argument that without knowing what is "impossible", they may make an incredible discovery...but that may just be wishful thinking.  I mean, I wouldn't complain if I knew my yogurt was poison if it glowed green, but I'll probably still use the sell by date as a fall back. 

[slic]

Is it easy or hard to make a deadly pathogen?  I really don't know.  I'm just remembering that we were afraid a computer would take over the world about the time the Atari 2600 came out.

I really can't get behind the idea that's the equivalent of "Well we haven't yet killed ourselves eating stuff out of the trash, let's try this moldy bread next"

[Heradel]

If anything, I'm less worried about the people doing experimentation in this kind of collaborative. I've used/taken part in hackerspaces, and the group has a way of moderating more extreme tendencies and monitoring it's members. These things are public, the people meet on a fairly regular basis, and if someone's doing something bad they're going to get kicked out or reported to the authorities.

@slic — They did find Penicillin that way.

[Russell Nash]

@slic — They did find Penicillin that way.

Not by eating the bread.  It accidentally fell into a petri dish.

[slic]

Heradel - Mr. Nash is correct, you get points though 'cause food was involved, I think. Either way, you did catch my intended undertone.  Accidental discoveries happen and sometimes with great results.  In the case of penicillin, it was literally something "real" scientists would normally have thrown out. 
But how many accidental failures happen - and how many with disasterous results?  i'm not trying to say we are all doomed, but think about other creations/best attempts people have tried that had all sorts unforeseen consequences - from agriculture to computer viruses.

and if someone's doing something bad they're going to get kicked out or reported to the authorities.

assuming they don't just stay at home...

[Russell Nash]

The thing is that  mistake could be self-replicating (sorry if this point was already made).  With other things someone might have burned down the block or something, but some genetically modified virus could theoretically wipeout mankind.