So I have an idea I would like to bounce off of people.

We currently have the technology to mess around with different genes and things, right?  And we can manipulate them at will.

Why don’t we do that?

Here’s the thing.  When you invent a new machine, it costs a lot to make it even after it’s invented.  You have to pay to develop it, manufacture it, and a whole bunch of stuff I won’t get into because frankly, I don’t fully understand it.

But if someone were to say, make an apple tree that put out chicken vindaloos, it’d be a lot cheaper than all that.  You would have to pay to develop it, and that would be all.  Granted, that cost would be rather expensive, but after that it’s all profit.

So all these things we can get machines to do, living things can do better and cheaper.  So why aren’t we making them?

Like alright try this on for size.  There’s this animal called a water bear.  It can survive almost anything because when there’s no oxygen or food or water, it hybernates and it can sleep like that in extreme heat or cold, without air or food, for hundreds of years.

If we put that gene into say sugarcane, Cuba would be screwed because any idiot anywhere in the world could suddenly grow sugar as far north as Alaska.

OK maybe sugarcane is a bad example.  But grain?  Rice?

And corn is part of the grass family.  Bamboo is also part of the grass family.  They are kissing cousins.

Corn can be eaten. . . well, I’m not personally fond of corn, but I’ve heard it can be eaten.  There are people in my family who eat it anyway, and as far as I know it hasn’t killed them yet.  And bamboo grows at like a foot a day.

. . . . So what about a bamboo stalk that sprouts ears of corn?

Now I read somewhere that algae can be turned into a sort of pseudo-diesel fuel.  But it hurts some part of your car.  Somehow.

Anyway, we could probably fix it up so it’s just like diesel except cheaper.  I know that not everyone has a car that runs on diesel but that way if we do ever run out of oil, we’ll be fine.  And if we never do run out of oil then we’re still fine.

Space travel is horribly expensive.  It costs something like tens of millions of dollars just to put a couple of guys on the moon, which is clearly not very far away.  Imagine how much it would cost to actually leave the solar system!  I mean, isn’t that why we don’t have colonies on Mars yet?  Because every colonist would have to chip in a billion dollars or so, and all of our billionaires who get bored just start building statues of themselves instead?

So why do we not just grow spaceships?  It would be hard, yes.  And it would be expensive.  But probably not as expensive as it is right now!

We have materials that don’t explode when they’re in a vacuum.  That’s what we build rockets and things out of.  So just make an organism that has a similarly built shell or something, and wait a while and you get an almost free vehicle!  And as for propulsion?

There’s a beetle in South America that shoots chemicals out of its butt when it gets scared.  These chemicals, when they mix together, explode.  Because it’s a small beetle it’s not a very big explosion, but it still would not be pleasant if you had the thing in your mouth when it went off.

Anyway.

Just take the gene from that to make such chemicals, but on a much bigger scale.  It’ll be hard, but it can be done.  And after you actually complete the thing, you just feed it and other than that you never have to lift another finger to make another one.  It’ll manufacture itself, and every one after that first one (or two) is free.

I could go on like this for days.

So anyway.  It’s just a thought, and I really have no idea if I’m on to anything or if I’m just babbling.  But if there’s anyone out there who actually knows stuff about genetics, I’d love to find out.