What will happen is what always happens. The good people will use emerging technologies for well intended purposes, and the bad people will use emerging technologies in service to their agendas.
What seems to be missing from commentary on these subjects is the insight that as the scale of such emerging powers grows, the room for error steadily shrinks, and the bad (or stupid) people are increasingly in a position to bring down the entire system, thus erasing whatever benefits the well intended good people have managed to create.
Shouldn’t we have learned this in 1945??
Nuclear power is a powerful energy generation technology which, when perfected, can go a long way in addressing climate change challenges.
But that doesn’t really matter, because sooner or later a very long standing pattern of all out fight to the death conflict which has been routine for 10,000 years will reappear (as it’s trying to now in Ukraine) and nuclear weapons will erase the benefits of nuclear power.
Right now, as we speak, we may be on the very edge of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe poisoning all of Europe. And that’s because Putin can invade his neighbor with impunity. And that’s because he has nuclear weapons which protect him from any truly effective response to his invasion.
There is no science magic which will transform every psychopathic power tripper on the planet (almost all of whom are men) in to nice guys who aren’t a threat.
Hitler understood the laws of nature, and was very honest about it. He said, “We are the predator, and you are the prey.” Hitler didn’t invent that, he just understood that this has been the law of nature for a billion years. The big fish eat the little fish.
The science clergy is working as hard as they can, to make the big fish bigger. From the perspective of we the little fish, not such a great plan!
What will happen is what always happens. The good people will use emerging technologies for well intended purposes, and the bad people will use emerging technologies in service to their agendas.
What seems to be missing from commentary on these subjects is the insight that as the scale of such emerging powers grows, the room for error steadily shrinks, and the bad (or stupid) people are increasingly in a position to bring down the entire system, thus erasing whatever benefits the well intended good people have managed to create.
Shouldn’t we have learned this in 1945??
Nuclear power is a powerful energy generation technology which, when perfected, can go a long way in addressing climate change challenges.
But that doesn’t really matter, because sooner or later a very long standing pattern of all out fight to the death conflict which has been routine for 10,000 years will reappear (as it’s trying to now in Ukraine) and nuclear weapons will erase the benefits of nuclear power.
Right now, as we speak, we may be on the very edge of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe poisoning all of Europe. And that’s because Putin can invade his neighbor with impunity. And that’s because he has nuclear weapons which protect him from any truly effective response to his invasion.
There is no science magic which will transform every psychopathic power tripper on the planet (almost all of whom are men) in to nice guys who aren’t a threat.
Hitler understood the laws of nature, and was very honest about it. He said, “We are the predator, and you are the prey.” Hitler didn’t invent that, he just understood that this has been the law of nature for a billion years. The big fish eat the little fish.
The science clergy is working as hard as they can, to make the big fish bigger. From the perspective of we the little fish, not such a great plan!