> It should be pointed out that most US-based oligo synthesis companies will screen orders for potentially "dangerous" sequences.

Static analysis, in other words. Enumerating badness. Schneier would not be pleased.

I wouldn't put it past someone to create a mold with a complex life-cycle which eventually enters a form that secretes cocaine.

That's probably one of the worst ways of phrasing that, but they have a point.

I'm in love with biohacking and trying to start a biohackerspace myself in my city, but if we're reaching the level of actually making modifications to organisms at home, we really need to have a serious talk about it. Life is not a toy, it's self-replicating nanotech that's literally capable of killing people at scale.

It may be a snarky comment but the potential is there. When diy-biology gets going international drug smuggling rings are going to be a thing of the past, you're going to have a strain of e. Drugi that can produce your cocaine or heroin. The world hasn't even began to think of the possibilities, both good and bad, that are potentially around the corner