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At the same time, other scientists are trying to find viruses that hide in nature, like in wild bats or monkeys. There are probably plenty of potentially deadly pandemics out there.
与此同时，其他科学家也在试图寻找隐藏在自然界中的病毒，比如野生蝙蝠或猴子体内的病毒。外面可能存在大量可能致命的流行病。
Virus hunters take samples back to the lab to learn whether the newly discovered viruses are likely to spread in humans and catalogue the danger.
病毒猎人将样本带回实验室，了解新发现的病毒是否有可能在人类中传播，并记录其危险性。
When a biologist discovers a new virus, they usually publish its genetic data to the public. Journals are eager to share descriptions of potentially dangerous viruses.
当生物学家发现一种新病毒时，他们通常会向公众公布其基因数据。期刊也热衷于分享潜在危险病毒的描述。
Other labs go further and make viruses more dangerous. They combine and mutate different viruses to understand which mutations make them more likely to spread between humans or make them deadlier than their original forms.
其他实验室则走得更远，让病毒变得更加危险。他们结合和变异不同的病毒，以了解哪些突变使它们更有可能在人与人之间传播，或使它们比原始形式更致命。
And again, these results are shared freely. All while synthetic DNA and equipment to rebuild these viruses are sold online to anyone without any or very little tracking.
同样，这些结果是免费共享的。与此同时，合成DNA和重建这些病毒的设备在网上出售给任何人，没有任何跟踪或很少跟踪。
As the tools of biotechnology get ever cheaper and easy to use and the data on dangerous viruses keeps multiplying,
随着生物技术工具变得越来越便宜和易于使用，危险病毒的数据不断增加，
it is only a matter of time before a well-meaning scientist shares blueprints for the equivalent nuclear bomb of viruses, a superbug that will cause millions of deaths – and someone uses it.
善意的科学家分享病毒等同核弹的蓝图，即会导致数百万人死亡的超级细菌——并有人使用它，这只是时间问题。
Maybe because they have bad intentions, maybe because they are irresponsible or sloppy.
也许是因为他们有恶意，也许是因为他们不负责任或马虎。
We are creating an environment in which it is increasingly easy for anyone to create a weaponized virus in their backyard. This is scary.
我们正在创造一种环境，在这种环境中，任何人都越来越容易在自家后院制造武器化病毒。这很可怕。
The world would be plunged into an unending crisis as new pandemics pop up year after year or all at once –
随着新的流行病年复一年或同时出现，世界将陷入无休止的危机——
killing large parts of the world's population, doing unimaginable damage to civilisation as a whole, and possibly undoing centuries of progress.
杀死世界大部分人口，对整个文明造成难以想象的破坏，并可能破坏数百年来的进步。
It's not the first time we've faced a challenge like this and we are not helpless – think of nuclear technology.
这不是我们第一次面临这样的挑战，我们并非无能为力——想想核技术。
Something extremely powerful and dangerous with huge upsides and downsides.
这是一种极其强大和危险的东西，有巨大的好处和坏处。
Nuclear energy was born from weapon programs, so its creators were always aware of the potential for their knowledge to be abused.
核能源于武器计划，因此其创造者始终意识到他们的知识可能被滥用。
From the very beginning it was clear that knowledge in this field and access to the technology needed to be handled with utmost care.
从一开始，就很清楚，需要极其谨慎地处理该领域的知识和技术的获取。
So a lot of effort has gone into making sure no radioactive material disappears from sight or that countries don't try to hide weapons development behind energy programs.
因此，我们付出了很多努力，以确保没有放射性物质消失，或者各国不会试图将武器开发隐藏在能源计划的背后。
The result hasn't been perfect, but considering the 411 nuclear power stations running today, we've been very successful.
结果并不完美，但考虑到今天运行的411座核电站，我们已经非常成功了。
Likewise, no researcher would think to share data on how to turn common laboratory equipment into bomb-making machines on the internet.
同样，没有研究人员会想到在互联网上分享如何将普通实验室设备变成炸弹制造机器的数据。
There is no reason we could not handle the really dangerous aspects of biotechnology in a similar way!
我们没有理由不能以类似的方式处理生物技术真正危险的方面！
Experts have come up with three sort of bullet points: First we need to delay the next deadly pandemic by getting a grip on how we treat dangerous viruses.
专家们提出了三点要点：首先，我们需要掌握如何治疗危险病毒，以延缓下一次致命的流行病。
Their genetic data should be treated as an infohazard: information that poses a danger to society if it is shared without care.
他们的基因数据应被视为信息危害：如果不小心分享，这些信息会对社会构成危险。
In other words, not just anyone should be able to order dangerous DNA online.
换句话说，不是任何人都可以在网上订购危险的DNA。
And if you do, you should be tracked, so it becomes much harder for the wrong people to access the really spicy stuff.
如果你这样做了，你就应该受到跟踪，这样不法之徒就更难获得真正危险的东西。
The next step is detecting the danger by becoming aware which viruses are present among us and are spreading explosively between humans.
下一步是通过了解我们中间存在哪些病毒并在人与人之间爆炸性传播来检测危险。
This could be as easy as having labs in population centres maintain virus detectors that monitor what is going on in the micro world.
这可能就像在人口中心的实验室安装病毒探测器来监测微观世界正在发生的事情一样简单。
If we suddenly see certain microorganisms show up a lot in a short time, we can react quickly and start counter measures.
如果我们突然发现某些微生物在短时间内大量出现，我们可以迅速做出反应并采取应对措施。
Which is the final step: Destroy. We basically need to build a machine that is ready to destroy any pandemic threat before it has a chance to take over.
最后一步是摧毁。我们基本上需要建造一台机器，随时准备在任何流行病威胁有机会接管之前将其摧毁。
We can do this with new tools that are being developed right now, like nanofilters that pull dangers out of the air we breathe or specialized UV lamps that just kill any virus before it has a chance to jump from person to person.
我们可以使用目前正在开发的新工具来做到这一点，比如纳米过滤器，它可以从我们呼吸的空气中去除危险物质，或者专门的紫外线灯，可以在病毒有机会在人与人之间传播之前将其杀死。
And of course, we need to get better at getting new vaccines faster than ever before in history.
当然，我们需要比历史上任何时候都更快地获得新疫苗。
If we do these three things, the chances are really good that we can avoid a catastrophic pandemic in the future.
如果我们做到了这三件事，那么未来我们就有很大机会避免灾难性的流行病。
Biotechnology, like any exciting and powerful technology, is neither inherently good or bad. It has the potential to be both in breathtaking ways.
生物技术就像任何令人兴奋和强大的技术一样，本身并无好坏之分。它有可能以惊人的方式兼具好坏之分。
We have the chance to a future where we get to truly control biology - our biology, the biology of the plants and animals around us – and the biology of the microworld.
我们有机会在未来真正控制生物学——我们的生物学、我们周围动植物的生物学——以及微观世界的生物学。
So let's use it to create a future where we triumph over pandemics and diseases for good.
所以，让我们利用它创造一个永远战胜流行病和疾病的未来。
