Populations share many genes but often have them in different proportions so theoretically you may get something that kills 90% of group A and 10% of group B? Is it possible to avoid this?
Sure; population genetics can already sort people into relevant ethnic groups with ~100% accuracy with a few hundred markers. While the differing proportions mean that it’s not as simple as a few boolean switches ANDed together, I think it’s doable as a weighted sum: each variant gets a score, sum them all, and take action or not when the sum passes over a threshold.
Ethnic bioweapons seem entirely possible to me, but it’s hard to see why anyone would want to use them rather than existing weapons like nukes or armies or terror.
But you have to make it check for a few hundred markers, do some kind of weighted sum, and do it all in a way that is so intrinsic to the virus that any mutation that changes the way it works renders the virus inert.
Sure; population genetics can already sort people into relevant ethnic groups with ~100% accuracy with a few hundred markers. While the differing proportions mean that it’s not as simple as a few boolean switches ANDed together, I think it’s doable as a weighted sum: each variant gets a score, sum them all, and take action or not when the sum passes over a threshold.
Ethnic bioweapons seem entirely possible to me, but it’s hard to see why anyone would want to use them rather than existing weapons like nukes or armies or terror.
But you have to make it check for a few hundred markers, do some kind of weighted sum, and do it all in a way that is so intrinsic to the virus that any mutation that changes the way it works renders the virus inert.
I think there are people who have race as a major issue.