If you thought “Superman,” “Blade Runner” and the “Terminator” movies were pure fantasy sci-fi with no possible connection to reality, think again: Several new tech developments are bringing “Terminator IV” - the real thing - closer to birth.
First, Dutch scientists have bio-engineered the first bulletproof skin, by inserting a spider gene into a goat, which produces milk that can be spun out and woven into a material 10 times stronger than steel (the tensile strength of a spider web is phenomenal for its minuscule weight). The silk material is then mated with skin cells. Head researcher Jalila Eassaidi of the Forensic Genomics Consortium in the Netherlands stated:
“Imagine a spidersilk vest, capable of catching a bullet - the modern day equivalent of Genghis Khan's vests. (Genghis Khan equipped his soldiers with silk vests to deflect arrows). Now, let's take this one step further: why bother with a vest? Imagine replacing keratin, the protein responsible for the toughness of the human skin, with this spidersilk protein. This is possible by adding the silk producing genes of a spider to the genome of a human, creating a bulletproof human.”
The test video they released showed a .22 bullet, fired from a pistol at about 10 feet, penetrating a paper-thin patch of the silkskin taped onto a block of ballistic gelatin. The skin didn't stop the bullet, but it reduced penetration in the gelatin from about 12 inches to about 2 inches. They'll need some more trials and maybe a denser weave or multiple layers to stop anything larger than a .22, but the test has already demonstrated that this silk Kleenex, basically, is tougher than human skin.
Ms. Eassaidi is probably pitching the big money boys in our Military-Industrial Complex, which through its Mad Scientists department (DARPA) will fund just about anything. (The CIA spent several million dollars on “remote viewing” or ESP research, gleaning enough successes, supposedly, to keep the program operational for over a decade.) Over the last few years, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has funded the creation of an amazing array of eerily lifelike robots by the Boston Dynamics company.
Their first breakthrough, BigDog, was designed as a load carrier in rough terrain like Afghanistan. The robotic donkey can transport 300 pounds over 13 miles on flat ground, climb boulder gardens, jump and leap, and most spookily, recover its balance after being pushed or slipping on an ice sheet with a frantic motion of legs - just like a very athletic dog. With no head, and just the naked skeleton of armatures, joints and hydraulic tubes, it's damn scary to watch - a powerful, brainless beast capable of a lot of mayhem, it seems.
Actually chasing human prey is the mission of DARPA/Boston Dynamic's next creature, the Cheetah-Bot. With design and articulation more like a big cat, and the addition of a rotating head with all kinds of sensors, it's a special-ops hunter that could be diversely weaponized. Put a pair of red lasers shining out of those big eye sockets, and it probably wouldn't need any weapons. Like early Romans fleeing at the first sight of Hannibal's elephants, or the Incans terrorized by the Spanish conquistadors' horses, an enemy unit would probably run peeing and screaming before a herd of such fearsome mechanical animals.
Atlas is their humanoid robot, also headless at present, but capable of running, climbing, and crawling on hands and knees with human-like balance. It's not a leap to imagine advances 10 years down the road producing a Frankenstein monster close to Schwarzenegger's Terminator. Wrap it with the bulletproof skin, and give it a head filled with functioning senses and a brain (brain tissue has already been grafted with microchips, and prosthetic eyes have been developed), and you could have a regiment of bulletproof Supermen, remote-controlled like present-day drones.
Military incentives have spurred a great deal of scientific/technological progress throughout history, but those developments are not always limited to military applications. Boston Dynamics envisions their creations performing in “emergency response, firefighting, advanced agriculture and vehicular travel.” The robots and cyborgs may eventually replace humans for some of the most dangerous and difficult work - such as cleaning up the ongoing mess at Fukushima.
If they can make a basic Model-T version for the consumer, capable of hauling the garbage and mowing the lawn without terrorizing the dog, it just might be a better investment than a new car.
This first appeared in the Grand Junction Free Press.
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