8 Technologies That We Should Never, Ever Build

3. Gene Sequencing For Pathogens

So, we now live in a world in which the details of how to make mutant bird flu has been published in the public domain.

This is obviously in the pursuit of a greater understanding (and therefore cure for) of deadly diseases, but sequencing and altering the genomes of pathogens then publishing the results could land mankind in a lot of hot water.

Whilst the information is intended for noble use, there are those who could do a lot of damage with that information. Bird flu, for example, is currently unlikely to spread from human to human, but if someone were to make it airborne, then genetically engineered biological weapons are on the cards.