One of the thoughts that has occurred to me, when considering biotechnology, is that if humans can reach a point where they can identify and store all information about their own cells, they can then easily detect ANYTHING foreign in their body, and send biological agents or nanobots to attack it, or perhaps even purge the body of poisons, excessive amounts of substances, making the human immune system much stronger, and, maybe even making it possible to prevent aging by detecting when cells are corrupted by cancer or other things. Given the combination of CRISPR and computers, none of it is inconceivable for the future.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.What if we use gene modifications to overcome the effects of climate change and pollution? We're wouldn't be slaves to our environment.
jdubose
Level 7
Feb 6, 2020
1
Hopefully not so we could get away with polluting it more. Could also be used to allow astronauts to live in conditions of less gravity and higher radiation levels.
A trick here is that to store all of the information about a cell, would require as much mass/energy as the cell itself. That is, to know the state of every single subatomic particle even, which is part of that cell, will take as much mass as the cell. And, an unknown about the state of even one particle leads to uncertainty about the whole cell. 
Observer-Effect
Level 7
Jan 30, 2020
2
Not all of the mass of a cell is used for storing information, most of the mass of a cell is for other purposes, like chemical synthesis.
I was talking from the standpoint of perhaps the cell "stores" no information at all! Its that knowing the state of it takes information, and to know the state of every bit of any matter - requires the same amount of matter/E. To "identify and store all information" about a cell, as was asked - will take a lot of storage. But the trick is the word "all" --- If we want a more general picture of the state of a cell, that can certainly be much less information.
I don't think this is a bad idea at all, in fact I think its inevitable, I'm just physics geeking over the details. Its why I own 5 Geiger counters and don't have much of a social life! 
@Archeus_Lore I just noticed this - look how active just this conversation is! The numbers on that Geiger counter when I hold it up to the screen! Compare to the chart . . .
WTF, you been working with plutonium or something? Ha ha ha
@Archeus_Lore Close - Americium-241 is close to, and often extracted from, plutonium. Fortunately Pu is very hard to get. But Am-241 is right in smoke detectors! I use it as a test source, and experiment source, for various projects. Very strong alpha emitter, that meter shows a crazy reading because it is right against it. But alpha radiation doesn't make it through a piece of paper, our skin, or a few inches of air. Now if I was holding the geiger counter a foot away from something, and got a reading like that? I'd kiss my ass goodbye!
I do not think it will take long before we modify ourselves so much that by definition we will evolve into what will be considered a new species. Maybe as soon as 200 or 300 years. The only reson I think it will take that long is I am speaking of our entire species.
DavidLaDeau
Level 8
Jan 30, 2020
1
Homo sapien trchnicus
What you described has been written about. A search on the Internet can tell you more about what is available and what is in the works. It is quite imaginable.
St-Sinner
Level 9
Jan 30, 2020
1
That is not a big surprize . . . technology is moving very rapidly, so fast that it is difficult to keep up in more than one field.
Although we have learned a great deal, we still have a great deal to learn. For instance we can map DNA, but dont' really understand how the genetic code results into individual body parts and ells We dont' understnd how the immune system id able to identiy foreign cells, even though we understand that it does and piggy back on the immune system for vaccinations to prevent diseases. We just have a fague general understanding of it all, but the details still illude us.
At some point we may be able to do what you suggest is possible, but I doubt it iwll be in the lifetime of anyone living today.
snytiger6
Level 9
Jan 30, 2020
1
I think you are underestimating the current state of technology, and, what most people fail to understand is that technology is not improving on a linear scale, it is improving on an exponential scale.
Generally, most people who have not spent much time investigating deep learning or even general artificial intellence are missing the boat on this.
@Archeus_Lore
As we develop quantum computers , we’ll checking ourselves with our cell phones.
It's an interesting concept. However, how would we be able to scan the body with such precision, without destroying the body? Also, the ethics here become murky. Would you want to know that you have X disease, which cannot be cured? What if a future employer or insurance comlany is allowed to scan you to see how much alcohol you drink?
Vpatel
Level 5
Jan 30, 2020
0
scan - as in use Artificial intelligence built into biological systems or nanobots to detect. They are already able to store information in biological systems, computational power is not far off.
@Archeus_Lore I personally would want this to be true, because of my own circumstances. However, i'm just not sure we have cracked miniturisation that well. For example, we would need a power source for such bots, whose mass would be sizable, purely due to how much energy can be fitted into a given space. Or, how would such bots transmit their data? Due to physics, and the wavelength of light, the antenna would have to be at least a few millimetres. But I do hope I'm wrong and this becomes reality. Though don't forget, once we've cracked this, it's like any new technology, and the potential to create nanobot warfare.
I hope those nanobots can flush out depression and boredom and dementia. All of our body parts have an expiry date. We are better off the sooner we realize that I think. But I do agree that anything that can target the most heinous diseases is a big plus.
Bilbobagins
Level 6
Jan 30, 2020
5
While I'm positive there will be those against this - religious complaints against God's plan , etc . , and that there will be some horrrifying mis-steps along the way during future development , in a way , it's just furtuure development of Loui Pasteur's original concept - we are infected by invisable to the naked eye viruses and bacteria , and , if given half a chance , our bodies can develop reisitance to most of these virsuses , in much the same way that we are given vaccines against measles and small pox .
Cast1es
Level 9
Jan 30, 2020
1
I don't believe it is possible to store all of the information, in that we can't know it. We might get lucky and capture enough to avoid a bad outcome, but there will be an element of luck involved.
Mitch07102
Level 8
Jan 30, 2020
1
Agreed, I know I know if no technology that can scan at atom-level without harm if destroying the object being scanned.
I think this might be totally possible. If we achieve this and life is greatly extended life for us in the future should include an understanding of people who choose their own exit. I say this because many believers are into god simply because they want to live forever. This is an idea that most of us outgrow in time.
DenoPenno
Level 9
Jan 30, 2020
2
It may be conceivable, but would it be desirable?
anglophone
Level 9
Jan 30, 2020
4
I would argue that it would not be. Humans are a plague upon creation and should stop thinking otherwise. Believing ourselves separate from nature is one of our biggest faults and this only increases that extraction.
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