This article is misleading in supposing that the nucleic acid sequence represents the only information in encoded in a virus. A naked nucleic acid strand wouldn't make it very far in the wild. Here are some extra sources of information applicable to influenza:

1) RNA modifications

2) protein modifications

3) 8 different strands (the cut points are information)

4 - n) The tiny matter of the structure and organization of the virus, its proteins counts and arrangements, and the way that its RNA strands are packaged (see the wikipedia article for more on this).

So, the information contained in a single virus is far higher than its nucleic acid sequence. I'm not dead yet.

biology is ripe with code/hardware that has been running for billions of years, (eg ribosomes). I imagine that maintaining backwards compatibility will be something of an issue.

It should represent you in a spartan way. Perhaps a picture, your name, and a link to favorite profile (linked in I suppose).

I lived homeless traveling up the coast on a bicycle for four months last summer. I slept on strangers couches, outside the SF library, and under towering redwood trees. I had a laptop, phone, and frequent wi-fi hot spots to keep me in touch with the world. I blogged, I studied, I attended university lectures, and I loved it. When returning home, I had trouble returning to my bed. Modern amenities can feel like a mollifying prison if you've experienced life lived out of a back-pack and under the sun. I don't think you are wrong to worry about a homeless isolationists mental state. Perhaps, though, we should also worry about the mental state of those who never follow the yen to strike out into the lonely unknown.

Parishioner: "I just had my lord and savior for breakfast!"

Twitter is the worlds best data source for modeling breakfast preferences. Do you realize how many advertising dollars will soon be pouring in from Capt'n Crunch and Count Chocula?

Honestly, I don't see why we bothered moving beyond Crusaders. With our population sated by mass opiate that is Michealangelo's Chapel world conquest was inevitiable. I guess that's one of the pitfalls of our mortal and hence shortsighted leadership. Hopefully Obama can fix all that. Go stem cells! Go!