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Reprogramming Bacteria for Symbiont Conversion: A Review

Bacteria are prokaryotic cells some of which have positive effects upon the human organism and some of which have negative effects. I coined the term “symbiont conversion” for methods that convert, or reprogram, bacteria (and other cells, such as tumor cells) that have a negative effect to cells that have a positive effect. With such methods the urgent problem of antibiotic resistance could be solved. [Volko2025] This short paper is about such methods, but in a more broad context – I want to review different approaches towards the reprogramming of bacteria and not necessarily in the context of symbiont conversion, although symbiont conversion is the motivation for doing this literature survey. Basically a literature survey shows that there are two different approaches towards the reprogramming of bacteria: On the one hand, bacteria can be reprogrammed by altering their genes, for example by using bacteriophages (viruses that target bacteria) or methods like CRISPR/Cas9. These approache...
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The Misery of Transhumanism

Face it: all the ideas presented in the book “Homo Ex Machina”, published in 2023, are already old! Be it gene editing, cryonics, longevity: people were already philosophizing about them in the 1990s. For me, it was a motivation during my studies to contribute to the implementation of these ideas. But to this day, most of these ideas have remained just ideas. Legal hurdles and technical difficulties stand in the way of implementation.  In fact, the only future technology that has already been implemented is artificial intelligence. The difficulty with gene editing is that germline therapy is banned in most countries around the world. However, certain diseases cannot be cured with somatic gene therapy.  I recently wrote about longevity in the Prudentia blog. There are ideas here too, but nothing has been implemented yet. I have my doubts about the feasibility of cryonics (resuscitation after death).  The only biomedical idea of the transhumanists that could soon become re...
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History of Computers

The first mechanical computer was built by Charles Babbage (1791 – 1871). It was called the Difference Engine. Its successor, the Analytic Engine, is especially noteworthy. Babbage’s girlfriend Ada Lovelace was the first programmer in history. In the 20th century Konrad Zuse was the first to construct a working computer. Wikipedia writes: “The Z3 was a German electromechanical computer designed by Konrad Zuse in 1938, and completed in 1941. It was the world's first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer.” (The Z3 – Source: Wikipedia) Alan Turing and John von Neumann are to be credited with theoretical models how a computer works. Then the USA became the leading nation in computer building, with the ENIAC completed in 1945. In the late 1970s, finally home computers became available for ordinary people to be bought in specialized shops. One of the most popular home computers was the Commodore 64, which was succeeded by the Commodore Amiga 500. With home computers, ama...
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