Before AI-based bioengineering has reached the point where it can create “green goo”, wouldn’t it first reach the point where it can create targeted germs which destroy specific species, with green goo being a potential target for destruction? Seems like this would make defense feasible.
Maybe, Still, there are ways to harden an organism against parasitic intrusion. TLDR you isolate and filter external things. Plants are pretty good at this already (they have no mammalian style immune system) and employ regularly spaced filters with holes too small for bacteria in their water tubes.
The other option is to do the biological equivalent of “commoditize your complement”. Don’t get good at making leaves and roots, get good at being a robust middleman between leaves and roots and treat them as exploitable breedable workers. Obviously don’t optimise too hard in such a way as to make the system brittle (EG:massive uninterrupted monocultures). Have fallback options ready to deploy if something goes wrong.
If you want to make any victory pyrric, just re-use other common earth plant parts wholesale. If you want to kill the organism you’ll need root eating fungi for all the food crops and common trees/grasses. If you want a leaf fungus/bacteria same. Organism can select between plant varieties to remain effective so the defender has to release bio weapons to kill most important plants.
Before AI-based bioengineering has reached the point where it can create “green goo”, wouldn’t it first reach the point where it can create targeted germs which destroy specific species, with green goo being a potential target for destruction? Seems like this would make defense feasible.
Maybe, Still, there are ways to harden an organism against parasitic intrusion. TLDR you isolate and filter external things. Plants are pretty good at this already (they have no mammalian style immune system) and employ regularly spaced filters with holes too small for bacteria in their water tubes.
The other option is to do the biological equivalent of “commoditize your complement”. Don’t get good at making leaves and roots, get good at being a robust middleman between leaves and roots and treat them as exploitable breedable workers. Obviously don’t optimise too hard in such a way as to make the system brittle (EG:massive uninterrupted monocultures). Have fallback options ready to deploy if something goes wrong.
If you want to make any victory pyrric, just re-use other common earth plant parts wholesale. If you want to kill the organism you’ll need root eating fungi for all the food crops and common trees/grasses. If you want a leaf fungus/bacteria same. Organism can select between plant varieties to remain effective so the defender has to release bio weapons to kill most important plants.