I believe it was back in 2006 when I was in the 5th standard; we had a chapter in the then called EVS or Environmental Studies/Science called ‘The Shrinking World’. When I bought the textbook, I went through it straight away as I used to be a curious and sincere student at that time. And it was then when I stumbled upon the title, for an 11-year-old who was so blown away by the magical realms of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World; the name of the chapter was just intriguing to a whole other level. So when I finally read the chapter casually, I understood what it was about; communications. Yes, it was a metaphor for how everyone has come closer despite being physically distant from each other.
It’s 2016, ten years later and a lot has changed ever since. I’m 21 now, going to finish my graduation and sadly the metaphor has been used to define a different case now. Today, shrinking takes a different perspective and that is nanotechnology and its advances. And despite all the loud applauses, there does exist hushed voices that tend to adopt these advancements into the dark side; that is known as weaponry and warfare. Biological weapons are the biggest threat to humanity at the moment. And this has lead to the ultimate threat that is biological warfare.
It is pretty neat when planning attacks that can severely alter the future of humanity with the help of a disease. A terrorist is not more dangerous than a scientist, as he would need only five strains of the Ebola virus to slowly kill the entire ISIS without risking a single drop of his own blood. See where most of the Captain America: civil war or the Amazing Spider-Man gets justified? Biological weapons are however not that popular, in order to isolate a disease, a lot of resources are needed and it takes a lot of time to prepare. This is why, despite the damage quotient, terrorist organisations still use primitive, conventional arms and ammunition for their destructive purposes.
But that day is not that far when terrorist groups will invest their time and money to succeed in engaging in biological warfare. And it doesn’t just stop at terrorism, having a bio-weapon can be an advantage for any country when it comes to international conflicts. However, states can’t act that easily on bio-weapons as they are bound by the regulations of the United Nations, keeping peace at bay. But this warfare has the potential which is gradually gaining attention by all the organisations who can seek personal benefit from them.
Be it Ebola, Polio, Small Pox or H1N1; even releasing as little as 1 nanogram can turn out to be sufficient for infecting an entire colony and even turning into fatal consequences. Such threats, hence take the big step for the future when it comes to humanitarian destruction.
While one organization takes up nanotechnology and microbiology to threaten humanity, there are other ‘Change-makers’ who have taken the responsibility to save the Mother Earth in their own hands. One of them is the revolutionary engineer Mr. Elon Musk. He with his entrepreneurial giant Tesla cars; has created the much needed “bio-weapon defence mode”. That’s right, all you need to do when your town is hit by a vial of Ebola is just get into your Tesla and press a button and you can breathe clean air… and survive. The Tesla Model X has a filter which purifies the bio-hazard air inside the car. Now, that may be a business model but it does help you at a time when having a high mileage vehicle won’t be exciting while you breathe in H1N1 contaminated air.
It’s high time that antidotes to such diseases be available in all countries, whether or not they are prone to it, an attack can occur anytime and can cause an epidemic within a few hours. Biological weapons should be controlled and their cultures should be destroyed in order to lower the risks of any outbreak. The common population must be well-informed about the potential of such attacks and the threat it possesses for them.
I’d conclude with an open question that, is our fear for conventional weapon overpowering the much more severe bio-weapons?
IT'S PEN-DING! 