SECOND ANNUAL WORKSHOP ON

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SECOND ANNUAL WORKSHOP ON GEOETHICAL
NANOTECHNOLOGY July 20, 2006 Terasem Green
Mountain Center Retreat Lincoln,
Vermont CONSCIOUSNESS IN HUMANS AND
ELSEWHERE Baruch S. Blumberg Fox Chase Cancer
Center Philadelphia, PA , USA
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The issue that relates to this conference is that
the easiest way to explain to others the complex
mechanisms of environmental interactions of HBV
is to infer or say that the virus or swarm of
viruses has or have a plan, a strategy, tactics,
and an intentional drive. The question is what
is the difference between, on the one hand,
explaining the actions of an organism as
exhibiting a plan, and the organism actually
having a plan. My understanding is that having a
plan is a characteristic of consciousness. If an
organism is aware that it exists, than there is a
motivation to plan for a somewhat predictable,
but yet mysterious, future. It is a
characteristic of sentient life itself. Does
that mean that HBV has a consciousness?
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The Wikipedia encyclopedia defines teleology
(derived from the Greek telos end, purpose) as
the the philosophical study of design, purpose,
directive principle, or finality in nature or
human creations. It is obvious that the search
for purpose and design in nature hinges on the
current and ancient debates on the nature of the
designer, intelligent design and other aspects of
the interaction of science and religion.
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HEPATITIS B VIRUS MORPHOLOGY
Characteristics Nucleic acid DNA Classification
hepadnavirus type 1 Serotypes multiple In vivo
replicationreverse transcription inliver and
other tissues In vitro propagationprimary
hepatocyteculture and transfectionby cloned HBV
DNA
22 nm
42 nm
HBsAg
C
HBcAg
HBV DNA
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Possible Outcomes after Infection with Hepatitis
B Virus

• Anti-Hbs. Development of antibody against the
  surface antigen. Usually protects against further
  disease.
• Acute hepatitis. Usually a self-limited disease
  with complete recovery
• i) Some may result in fulminant hepatitis that
  has a high mortality rate.ii) Some cases
  proceed to chronic HBV infection with
  increased risk of chronic liver disease and
  primary cancer of the liver
• The carrier state. Chronic infection with HBV
  that is asymptomatic for decades. At increased
  risk for chronic liver disease and primary cancer
  of the liver
• Chronic liver disease
• Primary cancer of the liver
• Other serological reactions, i.e., anti-HBc,
  anti-HBx, anti-Hbe, HBeAg, HBV DNA, etc. that
  denote different stages of disease and infection

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Hepatitis B is a viral infection of the liver.
More than two thousand million (2 billion) people
alive today have been infected with the hepatitis
B virus. Approximately 350 million are
chronically infected and are at high risk of
serious illness and death from cirrhosis of the
liverand primary liver cancer. Hepatitis
B is preventable with a safe and effective
vaccine the first vaccine against cancer.
WHO
website, 2004
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The overall stratergy of HBV can be explained as
a drive to maintain relatively high titers of
virus in the hosts blood stream for as long as
possible to increase the probability that the
virus will be transmitted from an infected host
to another person. It is advantageous to the
virus that the infected host survive for a long
time to increase the liklihood of replication and
transmission of HBV. People infected at birth or
early childhood may remain asymptomatic for
decades. It is only after transmission have had
ample time to happen that the infected person
becomes ill with what is often a very deadly
disease. The infected person is spared from
death for a very long time to increase the
probability of transmission.
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BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS FOR TRANSMISSION OF HBV

• Transmission from an infected mother to her
  unborn or just born child
• Infection of sibs by their sibs during
• childhood.
• Venereal transmission
• Other means of transfer of blood from one
  individual to another

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SOCIAL MECAHNISMS FOR THE TRANSMISSION OF HBV

• 1. Tatooing, a ritual common in many non-Western
  as well as contemporary western populations
• 2. Ritual circumcision
• 3. Exchange of blood between blood sisters or
  blood brothers
• 4. The use of dirty needles for drug
  injections, including illegal drugs
• 5. Blood transfusion
• 6. Renal dialysis and other medical devices
  exposed to human blood.
• The sport Orienteering
• Others

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HEPATITIS B LIKE VIRUSES Hepadnaviruses Human Ho
mo sapiens HBV Gorilla Gorilla
sp. HBV Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes ChHBV Gibbon F
amily Hylobatidae HBV Orangutan Pongo
pygmaeus HBV Woolly monkey Lagothrix
lagotricha WMHBV Tree shrew Tupaia
belangeri HBV (Kangaroo Family Macropodidae KHV) W
oodchuck or Groundhog Marmota monax WHV Beechey
ground squirrel Spermophilus beecheyi GSHV Arctic
squirrel S. parryi kennicotti ASHBV Richardson
ground squirrel S. richardsonii RGSHV (Tree
squirrel Sciurus carolinensis THBV) Pekin duck
Anas domesticus DHBV Great blue heron Ardea
herodias HHBV Grey heron A. cinerea HHBV Snow
goose Anser caerulescens SGHBV Ross goose A.
rossii RGHBV White Stork Ciconia
ciconia STHBV Demoiselle crane Anthropoides
virgo CHBV Grey crowned crane Balearica
regulorum CHBV (Stink snake Elaphe
carinata SSHV) (Items in parentheses have not
been validated. Tree shrews were experimentally
infected.)
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Understanding the biology of the virus resulted
in the invention and development of a
vaccine. The use of the vaccine that we
invented in 1969 and that has been widely used
since the 1980s has thwarted most of the means of
transmission.
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HEPATITIS B VIRUS MORPHOLOGY
Characteristics Nucleic acid DNA Classification
hepadnavirus type 1 Serotypes multiple In vivo
replicationreverse transcription inliver and
other tissues In vitro propagationprimary
hepatocyteculture and transfectionby cloned HBV
DNA
22 nm
42 nm
HBsAg
C
HBcAg
HBV DNA
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Vinge, Vernor, The creativity machine, Nature,
(2006), 440, 411 In 15 years we are likely to
have processing power that is 1,000 times greater
than today, and in even larger increase in the
number of network-connected devices (such as tiny
sensors and effectors). Among other things,
these improvements will add a layer of
networking beneath what we have today, to create
a world come alive with trillions of tiny devices
that know what they are, where they are and how
to communicate with their near neighbors, and
thus, with anything in the world. Much of the
planetary sensing that is part of the scientific
enterprise will be implicit in this new digital
Gaia. The Internet will have leaked out, to
become coincident with Earth. The ensemble
eventually grows beyond human creativity. To
become what? We cant know until we get
there. Verner Vinge, is at San Diego State
University. He is the author of the novel
Rainbows End that considers the internet of
2025.
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Consciousness implies self awareness. Knowing
that you exist requires considering the past,
present, and the future. Considering the future
means that plans must be made based on past and
present experiences and unfolding events. In
desribing the natural history of HBV and its
interactions with humans and other elements in
its environment I spoke as if it had a plan, that
is a characteristic of conscousness. The
question is, again, what is the difference
between telling a story as if the creature has a
plan and it actually having a plan. I hope that
as the workshop proceeds we will have insights
into this question.