February 08, 2020

Can a computer virus infect humans?

In a comic book about a super-human AI it was explained that robots are able to rescue mankind from a virus, Mitchell Kwok: Superai #20:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/mitchell-kwok/superai-20/ebook/product-24420726.html

It was left open if the virus is a computer virus, a fictional or a biological one. So the first question to answer is: can a computer virus infect biological entities? A while ago, in a hoax blog post it was explained, that a computer virus is able to spread to humans and animals,

https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/lethal-computer-virus-spreads-in-humans/

But this can't be realized in reality, because a computer virus is located in the RAM of a computer while biological viruses are based on biological cells. What is needed to overcome the barrier between silicon and cells is a "brain computer interface". That is a device which was invented with the purpose to receive and transmit signals into the brain. If such an interface is used for control something, it's called in the literature "brain stimulation". Brain stimulation means, that on the computer a program is started. The BCI-interface sends signals to the brain and then the biological lifeform is doing something.

Exactly such a pipeline can be used by a virus as well. From science fiction movies like The lawnmower man (1992) and Existenz (1999) such a device was used. It was left open if a normal MS-DOS PC can be reprogrammed in a way, that the Soundblaster card is acting as a brain machine interface. But suppose it's possible, than a computer virus is able to spread from computers into humans and vice verse. The result is a mashup between two different film genres: Terminator II in which an artificial Intelligence takes over the world, and a Zombie apocalypse movie like 'I am legend (2007)' in which a biological virus is transforming humans into living deads.