Betterhumans

I just posted in the forums about my friend who has similar reservations.  There doesn't really seem to be any good answers that assuage such fears.

I would really like to hear some though.

I am not really worried about "Grey Goo," but there are a variety of other potential hazards out there that are troubling (many of which you mentioned)

Kurzweil, whose advocacy is well known, a few months ago, along with Joy, asked for the "unpublishing" of certain virial genomes for fear of their use in making bioweapons.

Freitas, who's written several works about using nanotechnology in medicine, seems to also to be having reservations and worries.

Reynolds has on a number of occasions in several columns discussed and advocated the advance of nanotechnology. He sits on the board of directors of the Foresight Institute. And think this latest article of his shows that he is not an unquestioning advocate of blind progress on this stuff.

Treder and Phoenix, both advocates, have on many occasions also expressed reservations.

I think this is all a good sign. If even the advocates have worries, maybe we'll muddle through somehow. And they are right to be worried. They've dismissed the unlikely and easily prevented risk of gray goo. But when it comes to the concerns about deliberate abuse, weapon building and totalitarian control, these are much harder to dismiss.

I don't think we will find a perfect answer to these problems. Sometimes it seems to me like we're witnessing a huge scaling of the gun control debate. Instead of guns, it will eventually be possible for people to build bio and nanoweapons of enormous power in their garage. How do you control something like that without turning into a police state?

I don't know if you can have a perfect and stable balance on that question. My guess is it will be like the current controversies of today. We'll argue back and forth, pass some good legislation and some bad legislation and occasionally surprises and disasters will happen.

Thinking about the cheap milling machines, three-dimensional printers and fabricators that Neil Gershenfeld has written a book about recently, I can already imagine these machines being used to cheaply manufacture zip guns  and grenades in war torn areas.

It seems to me that there are several things we should try:

1) We must work as hard and as quickly as possible to bring the developing world up to a standard of living compariable with the post-industrial world. If most of the people of the world are well off, they are more likely to favor pluralistic governments, human rights and political stability. They will have more stake in system.

2) We have to work quickly to resolve most of the political disputes, wars and conflicts that remain in this post-Cold War world. This will make malcontents rare.

3) We have to "copying" civilization to other places aside from earth. Having all your eggs in one basket is risky. Redundancy is good.

Anyone got anything to add to that list?

Create peace, prosperity, then spread throughout the cosmos... that doesn't sound too hard...

no wonder there are skeptics

It is sad that the spreading throughout the cosmos is probably the easiest one on that list to achieve.

Why do scientists not want to live in America? It is because of people like this. I might as well trade in my microscope for a stone tool, but then again, he probably would be against that to lol.

What's depressing is that Phoenix & Treder really should know better. There's sort of an ongoing debate on the CRN website about 'What Comes Nex' and it's not going anywhere. Mostly, I think, because we can't think outside the need for some Global Emperor, to resolve the current worldwide anarchy (witness the contuining sage of the Toothless Talking Shop and you'll see what I mean).
As for Freitas, I find his proposal disappointing. An immediate global moratorium? Really? I think this moratorium will be hit by the same fate as Kyoto. Some countries simply will not sign, because they perceive it as contrary to their national interest. Hence the returning call for a Majesty for the Planet.

You know, today there's was a very interesting documentary about the future eruption of Yellowstone. If only Freitas, Phoenix, Joy & Co. could see that to escape the fate of planetary doom this vulcano could bring upon us, we need molecular manufacturing and artificial life asap. But I fear they will not. Oh well...