At 08:56 AM 10/16/98 -0400, Doug Bailey wrote:
>However, these "arguments" are effectively countered by
>the point that all technologies are vulnerable to abuse.
>That brain implants and human cloning could be abused in
>ways we might not find palatable makes them no different
>from artillery, the Internet, or mastery of fire. The key
>is anticipating the capabilities of technology and
>objectively considering the ways such technology can
>be used positively and ways it can be abused. Developing
>policy from that vantage point is key.
IAN: Exactly. All advances in technology are
a threat in the wrong hands, and a benefit in
the right ones. The "wrong hands" are authoritarian
central planners, and as such, the
case is against central authority powers.
The idea of banning a technology because the government (the banners) might abuse is silly, for it assumes that governments follow the law. Probably the best way to ensure that cloning and implants are used in the worst ways is to ban them.
"He who pursues learning will increase every day;
he who pursues Tao will decrease every day."
Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching)