PRE-PREDICTIVE PROGRAMMING
Popular Culture Strikes Again!
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pg. 437 The Inferno - Dan Brown 2013
"Sienna", Langdon whispered gently. "I need to understand all of this. I need you to explain to me what Bertrand did. What did he release in to the world?"
Sienna faced him again, her soft brown eyes radiating a darker fear. "He released a virus," she whispered. "A very specific kind of virus."
Langdon held his breath. "Tell me."
"Bertrand created something known as a viral vector. It's a virus intentionally designed to install genetic information into the cell it's attacking." Sienns paused to let him to process the idea. "A virus vector... rather than killing its host cell... inserts a piece of predetermined DNA into that cell, essentially modifying the cell's genome."
Langdon struggled to grasp the meaning. This virus changes our DNA?
"The insidious nature of this virus," Sienna continued, "is that none of us know it infected us. No one gets sick. It causes no overt symptoms to suggest that it is changing us genetically."
For a moment Langdon could feel the blood pulsing in his veins. "And what changes does it make?"
Sienna closedher eyes for amoment. "Robert," she whispered, "as soon as this virus was released into the cistern's lagoon, a chain reaction began. Every person who descended into the cavern and breathed the air became infected. They became viral hosts... unwitting accomplices who transferred the virus to others, sparking an exponential proliferation of disease that will now have torn across the planet like a forest fire. By now, the virus will have penetrated the global population. You, me... everyone."
Langdon rose from the bench and began pacing frantically before her. "And what does it do to us?" he repeated.
Sienna was silent for a long moment. "The virus has the ability to render the human body...inferile." She shifted uncomfortably. "Bertrand created a sterility plague."
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