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Yeah, I really wish I could get excited about this but you just know this is going to be another ecological disaster and/or privacy scandal waiting too happen.

Yeah, I really wish I could get excited about this but you just know this is going to be another ecological disaster and/or privacy scandal waiting too happen. Something I'm much more hopeful about is the possibility of growing organs in laboratories, which will have massive implications for health aswell as industrial production of food. Though, putting aside pessism I can see these technologies being synergistic, potentially benefitting all of humanity. One can dream

Teever 4y ago
Your line of thinking doesn't make sense to me. Lab grown organs are going to lead to ecological disasters and privacy scandals if only because they'll save the life of the next privacy Hitler who will go on to use micro batteries in hideous ways. Every technology leads to problems because we as humans who use the technology are flawed.
- thfuran 4y ago
  But not all technologies are equally likely to develop in equally problematic directions.
  - Teever 4y ago
    This is true but we have no way of known which ones will be problematic. After all someone thought nitrate fertilizer was going be the biggest boon to world peace.
    - marcosdumay 4y ago
      > but we have no way of known which ones will be problematic Before we build something, we usually have a pretty good idea of what problems it may cause. We can only have no idea if we don't know any property of it, and creating something that you didn't predict in any way is extremely rare. For example, smart dust is one thing guaranteed to create both great ecological problems and solutions.
- azinman2 4y ago
  If you follow that line of reasoning then you should just abolish medicine overall. I don’t think anyone reasonable would agree that’s worth the trade off.
Maursault 4y ago
> you just know this is going to be another ecological disaster and/or privacy scandal waiting too happen. Agreed. Yet the preventive solution seems obvious: we need to set aside our differences and work together bending the economies of the super powers towards the miraculous development of smaller rice.

Teever 4y ago

Your line of thinking doesn't make sense to me. Lab grown organs are going to lead to ecological disasters and privacy scandals if only because they'll save the life of the next privacy Hitler who will go on to use micro batteries in hideous ways. Every technology leads to problems because we as humans who use the technology are flawed.

thfuran 4y ago
But not all technologies are equally likely to develop in equally problematic directions.
- Teever 4y ago
  This is true but we have no way of known which ones will be problematic. After all someone thought nitrate fertilizer was going be the biggest boon to world peace.
  - marcosdumay 4y ago
    > but we have no way of known which ones will be problematic Before we build something, we usually have a pretty good idea of what problems it may cause. We can only have no idea if we don't know any property of it, and creating something that you didn't predict in any way is extremely rare. For example, smart dust is one thing guaranteed to create both great ecological problems and solutions.
azinman2 4y ago
If you follow that line of reasoning then you should just abolish medicine overall. I don’t think anyone reasonable would agree that’s worth the trade off.

Maursault 4y ago

> you just know this is going to be another ecological disaster and/or privacy scandal waiting too happen. Agreed. Yet the preventive solution seems obvious: we need to set aside our differences and work together bending the economies of the super powers towards the miraculous development of smaller rice.