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Alex Liu

Bioweapon and Artificial Intelligence：Existential Threats

Humans are Underestimating
Undeniably, our world is developing at an extraordinary pace. Ironically, the rapidity
of our development prevents us from fully recognizing the existential threats to
humanity. Out of the five major commonly acknowledged existential threats—nuclear
warfare, bioweapons, pandemic, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence [1]—I have
chosen to address two particular threats of bioweapons and artificial intelligence
because I believe they have been wrongfully ignored for various reasons.

In the movie “Resident Evil,” the infamous Umbrella Corporation turns people into
zombies with its bioweapon.[2] It is precisely due to movies like “Resident Evil” that
people underestimate or completely ignore the danger of bioweapons, believing that
they cannot possibly turn into senseless zombies characterized by feeding frenzies.
Similarly, people's sense of superiority leads to a false sense of invincibility, believing
that since they are the creators, they will naturally be able to control and manage their
creations. These people wrongly assume the impossibility of artificial intelligence
eventually evolving and developing a superior intelligence of their own. It is
paramount that global citizens are vigilant of these two existing threats. This essay
elaborates on the gravity of these two existential threats—bioweapon and artificial
intelligence—to raise the general consciousness so that humanity will begin to take
preemptive measures against them.

Bioweapon
People have forgotten the terror of the Black Plague. About two-thirds of the victims
died within three or four days of developing symptoms. Most of the rest lingered for
two weeks before they perished. Today, it is best known as the Black Death or the
Bubonic Plague. Medieval people called it “the blue sickness,” La pest (“the
Pestilence”), and “the Great Mortality.” [3] The first incidence of the Plague was
supposed to have appeared in 1346 in Afro-Eurasia.[4] Bubonic Plague causes fever,
fatigue, shivering, vomiting, headaches, giddiness, intolerance to light, pain in the
back and limbs, sleeplessness, apathy, and delirium. It also causes buboes: one or
more of the lymph nodes become tender and swollen, creating blackness in its
victims.[5] During the six years of the Black Plague pandemic, more than 25 million
people in Europe perished, which accounted for more than one-third of the European
population. Granted, the Black Plague was not a result of a bioengineered pandemic,
but it could easily have been.[6]

Similarly, another virus-induced illness called the Scarlet Fever is no less petrifying.
The Scarlet Fever Pandemic started in December 1858. Many doctors in North
America received complaints from large groups of people about scarlet nodes, scarlet
lines, scarlet spots, and a fever as high as 40 degrees Celsius.[7] The Scarlet Fever
Pandemic was caused by the Streptococcus Pyogenes, a major human-specific
bacterial pathogen that causes a wide array of manifestations. Death usually occurs
within 48 hours, also if not treated in time. The Scarlet Fever Pandemic finally ended
in 1859; however, the ghastly appearance of the dead remained a haunting image.[8]
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And then there is COVID-19. The COVID-19 started in November 2019. The virus
which causes the pandemic is called the Novel Coronavirus, which most human
antibodies find defenseless.[9] There is a name for each newly variated coronavirus,
and the most updated version is the Omicron.[10] The WHO designated Omicron as a
“variant of concern” because it represents the most heavily mutated variant of SARS-
CoV-2 discovered to date. Like its predecessor Delta, Omicron is highly mutated. It is
40% to 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant and nearly twice as
transmissible as the original SARS-CoV-2. [11]

All three previous pandemics are doubtlessly formidable and could have easily led to
the annihilation of humanity. Suppose the pathogens responsible for the Black Plague,
the Scarlet Fever, and the COVID-19 pandemic (Pestis Fulminans, Streptococcus
Pyogenes, and Coronavirus, respectively) —are turned into bioengineered weapons
against humanity. If these "natural" viruses were already so catastrophic, could one
imagine how much more lethal a bioengineered pandemic would be? This justifiable
fear brings us to our subsequent discussion of bioweapon, which encompasses
bioengineered pandemics. Bioweapons, otherwise known as "weapons of mass
destruction," are defined as “a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other
weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause
great damage to artificial structures like skyscrapers, natural structures like
mountains, or the biosphere.” [12] Bioweapons have already been deployed several
times in warfare [13]. For instance, the United States manufactured and used a
bioweapon in the Vietnam War, spraying “Agent Orange,” a herbicide and defoliant
chemical, in Vietnam from 1962 to 1971 for the dual purpose of defoliating forest
areas that might conceal Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces.[14]

Currently, there are only six known countries with bioengineered weapons, namely
China, Iran, Iraq, Russia, Libya, and North Korea.[15] However, the bioweapons could
easily lead to humanity's extinction.[16]

Artificial Intelligence
Apart from bioweapon, another artificial creation that has the potential to destroy
humanity is artificial intelligence. Max Tegmark and other scientists dream of
enabling robots with minds of their own, which confers humanity upon an otherwise
cold and inhuman piece of mechanism.[17] Nevertheless, other wary scientists are not
entirely oblivious to the danger of enabling a robot with its own mind and
independent decision-making ability, speculating that such a robot would eventually
develop a desire to subjugate human beings. These prophetic scientists would not be
surprised to find that robots have killed at least four people. The first victim is Robert
William, a 25-years-old assembly line worker who worked at Ford Motor. He was
killed instantly at work when a 1000-kilogram robot arm slammed into him.[18] The
second victim was a factory worker named Kenji Urata, who was crushed to death by
a robotic hydraulic arm while working at the Akashi Plant of Kawasaki Heavy
Industries.[19] The third victim was a female maintenance technician named Wanda
Holbrook, who had her skull crushed by a robot that managed to enter the safety door
despite precautionary measures to prevent unpermitted entries.[20] The fourth victim
was Elaine Herzberg. On March 18th, 2018, Herzberg was on her bike when a
malfunctioned Driverless Car (essentially artificial intelligence in disguise) —a Volvo
SUV—failed to detect her and instantly killed her.[21]
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The video recording of Herzberg's death shows a combination of software issues,

distracted operators, sensor issues, and many other faults that produced this incident.
According to the report, the UBER driverless car's software system identified her a
mere six seconds before the fatal crash. The car first identified her as an unknown
object, then classified her as a vehicle, and finally identified her as a bicycle.
Although the software eventually identified Elaine as an object to be avoided, the
software failed to alert the human driver to take the necessary action to pull an
emergency brake.[22]

Conclusion
Bioweapons and artificial intelligence are existential threats that cannot be treated
lightly. Failure to give them proper attention could easily lead to human beings'
subjugation by either pernicious viruses or vicious automatons. Suppose human
beings persist in presumptuousness and continue to undermine these existential
threats. In that case, it is highly likely that the only predominant players on Mother
Earth will be artificial intelligence and bioengineered pathogens.
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Footnotes
1. Jo Adetunji, “The five biggest threats to human existence,” The Conversation,
https://theconversation.com/the-five-biggest-threats-to-human-existence-27053.
2. Nick Romano, “Tom Hopper confused Umbrella Academy fans with the Umbrella
Corp. of Resident Evil”, https://ew.com/movies/tom-hopper-trades-umbrella-
academy-for-resident-evil-umbrella-corp/.
3. Dr. Mark Damen. “The Blue Sickness’: Impacts and Consequences of the
Medieval 'Black Death”, Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas,
https://brewminate.com/the-blue-sickness-impacts-and-consequences-of-the-
medieval-black-death/.
4. “Black Death”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death.
5. What Were the Symptoms of the Black Death?” Encyclopaedia Britannica,
https://www.britannica.com/question/What-were-the-symptoms-of-the-Black-
Death.
6. “Origins of the Black Plague Identified”, Science Daily,
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220615113242.htm.
7. “Scarlet Fever”, Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-
conditions/scarlet-fever/symptoms-causes/syc-20377406.
8. “1825 Scarlet Fever Pandemic”, Museum of American Finance,
https://www.moaf.org/exhibits/pandemics/scarlet-fever-1858.
9. “Antibodies to Common Cold Coronavirus Do Not Protect Against SARS-Co-2”,
Penn Medical News, https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-
releases/2021/february/antibodies-to-common-cold-coronaviruses-do-not-protect-
against-sars-cov2.
10. “Tracking SARS-CoV-2 Variants.” Penn Medical News,
https://www.who.int/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants.
11. “COVID-19 disease (SARS-CoV-2)”, Sciensano, https://covid-
19.sciensano.be/sites/default/files/Covid19/COVID-19_fact_sheet_ENG.pdf.
12. “Weapon of Mass Destruction.” Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon_of_mass_destruction.
13. “Biological Weapons in the History: Pre-20th Century of Biological Weapons”,
Encyclopaedia Britannica,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon_of_mass_destructionhttps://en.wikipedia.or
g/wiki/Weapon_of_mass_destruction.
14. “Agent Orange: Defoliant”, Encyclopaedia Britannica,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vietnam-War-POWs-and-MIAs-2051428.
15. “What are Biological Weapons? Here is a List of Countries that Possess Them!”
WION, https://www.wionews.com/science/what-are-biological-weapons-here-is-
a-list-of-countries-that-possess-them-330033.
16. “The Biological Weapons Threat and Nonproliferation Options: A Survey of
Senior U.S. Decision Makers and Policy Shapers”, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, https://carnegieendowment.org/files/BIO-survey-final-
report.pdf.
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17. “How Scientists Imagine a Dream World of AI: Artificial Intelligence News”,
Canterbury AI, https://canterbury.ai/how-scientists-imagine-a-dream-world-of-ai/.
18. “Robert Williams (robot fatality)”, Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Williams_(robot_fatality) .
19. “Kenji Urada”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenji_Urada.
20. Harriet Agerholm, “Robot Goes Rogue and Kills Woman on Michigan Car Parts
Production Line”, The Independent,
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/robot-killed-woman-wanda-
holbrook-car-parts-factory-michigan-ventra-ionia-mains-federal-lawsuit-100-cell-
a7630591.html.
21. “Death of Elaine Herzberg”, Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elaine_Herzberg.
22. “Uber’s Self-driving Operator Charged Over Fatal Crash”, BBC News,
https://www.bbc.co.
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