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Scientific American's Fred Guterl Explores the Threats Posed By Technology
Lasrick writes "Fred Guterl is the executive editor of Scientific American, and in this piece he explores various threats posed by the technology that modern civilization relies on. He discusses West African and Indian monsoons, infectious diseases, and computer hacking. Here's a quote: 'Today the technologies that pose some of the biggest problems are not so much military as commercial. They come from biology, energy production, and the information sciences — and are the very technologies that have fueled our prodigious growth as a species. They are far more seductive than nuclear weapons, and more difficult to extricate ourselves from. The technologies we worry about today form the basis of our global civilization and are essential to our survival.'"
It's fairly clear that a nuclear armageddon would have been bad for the majority of earth, if not destroying civilization completely.
Let's look at the other scenarios he describes (not all necessarily related to technology):
Emerging diseases. Yes, if H1N1 were as bad as the 1918 influenza, millions would have died. Not worth comparing to nuclear winter.
Global Warming. I'll let you decide if it's as bad as a nuclear armageddon.
Computer Hacking. In theory, it could cut power to a lot of people, as the article mentions, but so could some well-placed sticks of dynamite.
At least he didn't mention the terminator.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Do we have credible reports of someone actually being killed because of hacking? The media and politicians for the last few years have been hyping the hell out of the hacker menace and the "cyber" war but no one is even providing any body counts
Repeat after me: the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Which is why you should pay me for unicorn insurance.
Just because you haven't heard of any attacks, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. With their pointy, pointy horns.
Absolutely. SA is staffed by a bunch of luddites. Most articles are about impending environmental catastrophe, which can only be averted by moving back to caves. And if we don't move back to caves, then our hubris will result in us having to move to caves. They have lost the plot.
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number