From: Dickey, Michael F (michael_f_dickey@groton.pfizer.com)
Date: Mon Feb 18 2002 - 10:48:30 MST
Just curious what other extropians think of this - Mike
Welcome to The Lifeboat Foundation! Our goal is to save the human race from
extinction. Why do we think the human race will become
extinct later this century? Because advanced technologies available by about
2020 will enable one evil or simply clumsy person to
destroy all life on earth.
_Why do we think the human race will become extinct later this century? _
Because advanced technologies available by around 2020 will enable one evil
or simply clumsy person to destroy all life on earth.
One such advancement is nanotechnology. A nanotechnology based weapon known
as gray goo could easily exterminate every living thing, including viruses,
in about two days.
Engineered viruses and other biological weapons could also lead to our
extinction. Then there's antimatter bombs, uncontrollable AI, and finally
high energy particle accelerator mishaps which could destroy our local
space-time continuum. As you can see, there are various means by which all
life could be extinguished in the near future. And we've probably left out a
few.
We predict a 25% possibility of destruction due to a lab accident and a 25%
possibility of destruction due to anti-terrorism systems malfunctioning such
as a software glitch in the active nanotechnological shield proposed by Eric
Drexler in his book Engines of Creation. And last, but not least, there is a
50% possibility of annihilation by terrorism.
And we're not the only ones making that prediction. Arthur C. Clarke, the
visionary author who, in 1945, predicted a world linked by geostationary
satellites, was recently quoted as saying, "This terrorism is a frightful
danger and it is hard to see how we can get complete protection from it".
The sad fact is that it will take very little resources to launch a
nanotechnology attack, basically resources equivalent to the cost of the
2001 anthrax attack in the U.S. And the FBI believes that particular attack
was the work of a lone crazy. With this in mind, it's not hard to imagine
the disastrous result of nanotechnological weapons falling into the wrong
hands.
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