By identifying minimal sets of biological biomarkers – such as messenger RNA and immune-response proteins – the tests would indicate contagiousness, enabling early treatment or quarantine.
Prometheus represents a broader shift in DARPA’s biotechnology portfolio toward using computer models and predictive analytics, rather than actual symptoms.
As Jon Fleetwood explains below, this raises many concerning questions.
It also raises broader questions about how governments may increasingly rely on computer models – rather than observable clinical evidence – to make drastic public health determinations.
It also raises obvious questions: What happens when a computer says you’re contagious but you have no symptoms?
Could governments eventually quarantine or medically intervene based on that prediction?
And if the computer is wrong, how would you ever prove it?
DARPA summarised the programme’s objective in unusually direct language. According to the agency’s Prometheus webpage: “The Prometheus programme aims to improve military readiness and force health through development of a prognostic that can determine if an individual is contagious before he exhibits symptoms of illness.”
The agency further explained: “DARPA’s goal is to develop a molecular test for determining if an individual is likely to spread disease following exposure to an infectious agent and predict within 24 hours of exposure if that individual will become contagious.”
According to DARPA, the capability would allow military planners to identify potentially contagious individuals before they transmitted disease within the close quarters common in military operations...<<<Read More>>>....
