Charlie Stross wrote:
> Let me add to this: the unbounded techno-optimism is out of step with
Unbounded? Where?
> popular culture, and sometimes veers dangerously close to a Panglossian
> refusal to face the possibility that there is a downside to all this
> stuff. I'm not advocating luddism here: it's just that any new technology
I guess we all should find our fulfillment in petty agriculture, then.
Sorry, count me out.
> tends to come with misapplications as well as advantages, and sometimes
> the vehement insistence that _of course_ the benefits outweigh the costs
> appears facile and stupid. Especially when talking about technologies
> (example: molecular nanotechnology) where the benefits are major, but
> the worst possible case down-side is catastrophic (i.e. total extinction).
You will notice that there is no consensus on the issue.
> Pure unadulterated optimism, to put it bluntly, is unrealistic -- and
> everybody knows it.
So is pure pessimism. Gosh, we have to find a middle course. Who would
have thought?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:56:19 MDT