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1.  

   

   nonuser, Feb 23rd, 2005 @ 6:34pm

   
   

   it occurred to me as well

   Spam could probably be largely solved in a straightforward manner using some combination of authenticated email and sender micropay (e.g., by charging three cents to send an email to an address that hasn't agreed to accept mail from the sender). Viruses could similarly be contained by re-architecting operating systems. But this would deprive us of a chance of learning a lot of useful information about intelligent viruses, some of which may be transferrable to the biological domain.

    

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2.  

   

   dorpus, Feb 23rd, 2005 @ 6:52pm

   
   

   Bwa ha ha

   So Mr. Gates thinks he understands the field of bioinformatics now?
   
   Sure, such simple techniques will work once more useful problems are solved, such as the protein folding problem. Until the protein folding problem is understood in, say, another 20-30 years, DNA is just so many letters.
   
   

    

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3.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Feb 23rd, 2005 @ 8:21pm

   
   

   No Subject Given

   so their software cures you of aids, then crashes and kills you?!

    

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4.  

   

   Koey London, Feb 23rd, 2005 @ 11:19pm

   
   

   Re: Bwa ha ha

   Well, actually we're not that far off. Remember, it only took us a few hundred years to get from throwing axes at one another to nuking each other. It's a small step from understanding what DNA is to understanding what it does. And if we can take the enxyclopedia Britanica and fit it into my vest pocket at work, we can sure as hell beat AIDS and, more importantly, HIV, the virus responsible.

    

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5.  

   

   dorpus, Feb 23rd, 2005 @ 11:28pm

   
   

   Re: Bwa ha ha

   Can we? For all the technological glory, we have not beaten the common cold virus. We have not beaten any of the herpes simplex viruses. The only viruses we have managed to defeat are those with unusually low rates of mutation, such as smallpox or polio virus. HIV is a high-mutation virus, which has resisted vaccines -- more than one attempt has been made. Researchers expect to just make incremental progress, by treating it like a managed condition like Herpes. There have been plenty of false hopes, such as when secretary of HHS Donna Shalala said a cure for AIDS is 5 years away.
   
   

    

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6.  

   

   guest, Feb 24th, 2005 @ 7:13am

   
   

   No Subject Given

   Why does nearly every mention of Microsoft meet with such sarcasm? It's almost as if MSFT has become the habitual whipping boy for every geek out there.
   Although it admittedly has its rough edges, what other companies compare in providing customer value, and a corporate leader willing to commit billions of dollars for humanitarian causes?
   Oracle?
   Sun?
   IBM?
   Perhaps we should save some of our sarcasm for them as well.

    

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7.  

   

   Jared, Feb 24th, 2005 @ 9:04am

   
   

   Re: Bwa ha ha

   Remember, it only took us a few hundred years to get from throwing axes at one another to nuking each other.

   And we've devleoped nukes by studying axe throwing? Biological and binary are two completely seperate fields. This will not aid (pardon the pun) any research in combatting biological viruses because we don't program bilogical viruses, while we do program digital viruses. Biological viruses have a nasty habit of "building up immunities" to our vaccines or drugs, and they will only continue to do so. Call it, the will to live, if you must, but at any rate the human race will always be sick in this world.

   I don't understand why MS brings themself down by stating one specific virus, AIDS. Why AIDS? Why not the common cold, or the flu? When they don't live up to this, they're going to say, "Oh, well, we didn't really mean curing AIDS, we meant...uh...hold on a sec, I'm waiting for my queue."

    

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8.  

   

   sly squirrel, Feb 24th, 2005 @ 9:38am

   
   

   replace aids with need to get people going with th

   no thanks

    

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9.  

   

   Guy Mitchell Gauthier, Jan 30th, 2007 @ 11:08am

   
   

   there is a cure

   did you know that there is a cure for aids?

    

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