I can completely understand Sophia's reaction here even if I think she is going to be kicking herself in the ass for it the moment she actually revisits the tech with a clear head.I actually approve of the reasoning despite what I say later in this post but it's a lack of thought and imagination of a teenager getting caught up in the worst case scenario that is entirely in character for a teenager not used to making such harrowing decisions.
Could the Ceph nanotech become an absolute nightmare if used as a weapon? Very much so and if someone cracks the code it's kind of trivial to weaponize.
The thing is, the whole reason chemical and biological weapons are so reviled is because of their indiscriminate natures and their tendency to spiral out of control. But it's also because at least on the bio-weapon front... there isn't a way to fight them.
Except... right here, the Ceph nanotech could have provided that. A synthetic immune system that can communicate with other cells and be tools of war against any bio- or chemical weapon or even diseases that anyone cares to name. So yeah, it can totally be weaponized but it can also be used to build a shield against any such weapon ever being developed. Maybe not a perfect one but it would very much at least give people a way to fight such weapons in the future and r4educe the effectiveness of any attack considerably.
That right there is why I think that the Forge didn't give her points for destroying the tech. Just because it can be a weapon doesn't make it any more of one than a hammer or chisel are and just because she destroyed the sample here doesn't mean that the Vilani can't ever develop a human specific bio-weapon if they cared to.
Okay, sure, but how would you develop a defense for both sides and spread it?
If the Confederation and the Imperium try and develop one together... the Vilani find out that Humans have technology that is theoretically capable of Vilani extinction, has had it for an unknown amount of time and has put an unknown amount of research into this. The only logical response for the Vilani is to quarantine themselves from Humanity, and then immediately destroy Human civilizaiton so any theoretical weapon can't be developed, or deployed if it has already been developed. Possibly also embargo their own planets that have had direct contact with Humans as well until they can be certain that no such bioweapon was released. All this without consideration to the cost in money and Vilani lives to accomplish these things, because anything less than going as far as possible is a risk to the existence of their species.
If the Confederation develop this on their own, and then release it and only let the knowledge out after - the Imperium's response should be the same. Even if the research team made a shield for the Vilani as well, then the Imperium would still wipe out Humanity and consider it a final "fuck you" if the Confederation lied and they have a sleeping weapon in their bodies, or as a preventative measure because some Confederation research team has infected all Vilani with a currently harmless weapon that they could make not so harmless at any point, as far as the Imperium knows.
And if you just ignore the potential of the Ceph nanobots and try to use them for peaceful means instead, that just means eventually other people will get their hands on them and study them. If those other people are Vilani that acquired them through spies and smuggling, see above. If its a Human research team, they should realize that eventually as this peaceful nanobot tech proliferates the Imperium will acquire a sample eventually, and see the outcome of that. Thus as a Human the logical response is to weaponize it as quickly as possible and use that weapon as fast as possible before Humanity is made extinct through conventional means.
The existence of Ceph nanobots, if they are in a position where either side could ever possibly see them and their potential, is like a mexican standoff. One where both sides know that the best way to not get shot is to shoot first, because nobody can put their gun down or see what the other person is doing with their own gun, and both people hat each other.
I still think that Sophia should have kept them until she learned as much as she could from them, or was leaving MIT. Whichever came first would be the best time to destroy them. But their existence would just make certain that only one side, at most, would survive.
