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Originally Posted by nefarious
sorry, had to add that. i'm not sure how the larva would actually be able to be controlled by a chip since, for example if something was inserted into your body, your body would surround it with tissue and there really isnt a way to tap into your brain simply by plugging into a nerve anywhere in your body.
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This is true of mammallian nervous systems. Insectoid nervous systems are decidedly less complex. To use the example, butterflies use a relatively nervous system. While they do have a central brain (thus making them more complex than earthworms, for example), the whole thing only consists of a handful of neurons. It's relatively easy to figure out what goes where and with a sufficiently advanced piece of electroinics one could tap into that and override the butterfly's original nervous system, essentially taking control of it. It's been done with cockroaches already.
Although the insect remains as conscious as they ever are, it's important to remember that an insect is essentially a complex machine. There's no capacity for sentience and therefore there aren't really any ethical ramifications for any but the most left wing folks. Think PETA on this; I can't imagine there's many others out there who would champion the butterflies.
The ecological consequences are what I'd be more concerned about. When it comes to mammals it gets a lot more complicated, but then a mammal can't be controlled in the same way. The best you can do is what's been mentioned, training the marine mammals to follow specific behaviours and instructions. The animal will do it willingly because they usually get food as repayment. And really, how else do you repay something that has no sense of ownership?
I'd imagine any animals serving the marines or other armed forces would be well taken care of, if for no better reason than economy. I'd reckon it'd be pretty expensive to train these animals, and the electronics necessary to turn an insect into a remote controlled object aren't likely to be cheap.
I'm not sure about powering the device from the heat generated by the insect. Insects generate a pretty miniscule amount of heat energy to begin with and even if they didn't the methods of conversion just aren't efficient enough, unless this thing requires
very little power. While it's conceivable, since there are no moving parts, I'm not really sure how feasible it actually is.