Leslie

If you check the threads about that you will see my concerns about that too.

Les

Geezer

Before the Trinity explosion there was a real fear that it would ignite the atmosphere and kill everything. There were concerns that some particle accelerator experiments would form a black hole and consume the Earth.

Neither happened.

Bring it on, push those boundaires......

Geezer

Leslie

Not surprising about the fears Geezer, and yes that time they were unfounded.

What about if there is a real danger this time though? Is it really worth the risk until maybe more is known. Could anyone guarantee it is safe?

Les

Torquemada

What if.....
What if....
What if....

GlesgaKiss

So when can I have my own terminator?

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

TX.

GlesgaKiss

I should have thought that through a bit better before posting. Lol

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

At lest these were concerns from people who were actually qualified to understand the underlying physics, and to make an informed judgment based on their own knowledge and calculations.

Even then, only the former was really justifiable. The LHC and similar colliders do nothing that cosmic rays aren't already doing, at much higher energies, in the upper atmosphere all the time. If a high energy collision was ever going to form a black hole and swallow the earth, it would have already done so. Particle accelerators just enable us to create collisions under well defined conditions, and to watch the results with a detector.

I will freely admit that I'm no biologist or biochemist - which means I'm simply not qualified to hold any meaningful opinion as to whether or not these latest experiments are "safe". I don't have access to the details of the experiment, nor would I understand them even if I was.

More than likely, the journalists putting together fanciful headlines to try and sell newspapers - and let's not forget, that's the only thing they're paid to do - don't understand the experiments and their real implications either.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Keeping the thread on topic it looks like we're on the 1st step & can now create life from scratch rather than being restricted to the confines of the biological process ... simple life today albeit in the future presumably it will be any life. The ramifications for good & bad boggle the mind. I wasn't too bothered re machines as they don't look like they'll ever match humans. The prospect of clones does bother me yet now we have this - alternative life forms created by us is surely fraught with danger! They may even take over War Games style ...

TX.

Westwood2006

iTrader: (1)

Australian sugar cane crop > Cane Beetle > Cane Toads > Meat Ants!

I know an old lady who swallowed a cow,
I wonder how she swallowed a cow?!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
I guess she'll die.

Geezer

We would still be living in caves if we thought that for every scientific breakthrough, Les

Geezer

rabbos

We're going to inject some synthia into the LHC beam soon.

I'll let you all know when to put your nappies on

Leslie

I am sure that you really know that is a vast oversimplification which is not a valid answer, and that the concerns only lie in certain applications with perfectly reasonable worries attached.

I think that many scientists get so engrossed in their experiments that the unknown answers become so important to them that any risk involved is of little concern to them. They become blind to the possible consequences.

The thing you have to ask is that is it worth risking serious damage or widespread deaths by continuing with an experiment that you do not fully understand?

Les

Geezer

I do, hence the smiley....


How are they to understand them if they don't do them? At some point you have to move from theory to practice. They obviously think they undertsand the theory to have gotten this far.

Geezer

Klaatu

You are, of course, aware of the fact that whenever "scientists/experts" state that "some stuff is safe", it, usually isn't? Example; Cane toads in Australia.

And that ALWAYS "scientists/experts" state that the results were "unexpected"?

What is scary for me is that a multi-billionare is funding this "work". Sci-Fic becoming reality.

I have no problem with IVF, but this "technology" is, in a word, wrong.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Erm... are you aware of the fact that when experts say something is safe it almost always is? That's why the rare exceptions are newsworthy. "Experiment goes to plan" doesn't sell newspapers.

You're drawing ridiculous conclusions based on nothing but fear. What on earth does this experiment have to do with toads?

A: nothing whatsoever. What you're doing is saying that "because experiment A failed, then completely unrelated experiment B is also likely to fail".

I do hope you don't claim to be a scientist yourself.

Klaatu

You are, of course, talking complete crap! Al Gore, an "expert"? Rare exemptions, like cane toads, "experiment gone wrong"! Scientists, at the time, said "ok". And then "We didn't expect that"!

Geezer

That's a very sweeping generalisation! Most science goes ok, not the other way round.

Why does it matter who is funding? You are just obviously paranoid! If it was the government then it would be for some dark purpose, related to subjugating us all! Someone has to fund this stuff, and it doesn't come cheap. You have no idea if the benefactor is truly altruistic or not.

I'm not saying that all funded science does not have an agenda, but that does not automatically make all science questionable.

IVF, good, you have no problem with it. Lots of people do though, so do you think it should be banned? It's only an opinion, a belief in some cases. Science is not constrained, it is just, well, science. You cannot say it is wrong or right, it just is.

Geezer

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Beef

Messing with nature eh?

Let's end all 'messing with nature' activies:

No more glasses
No more hearing aids
No more blood transfusions.
No more transplant ops
No more medicines
No more walking sticks
No more cars
No more planes
Blah blah blah. It's all 'messing with nature'. Get over yourselves.

Leslie

Ok about the smiley!

Well I thought I gave the caveat in the last paragraph of my post above.

Les

Leslie

What a mindless attempt!

Les

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Perhaps 'Twelve Monkeys' is a future documentry? lol

Westwood2006

iTrader: (1)

A mate of mine sent me a link to an article entitled "Dell Unveils Plans for 'Streak' Tablet Computer" this morning.

I read it as “Steak tablet”. I thought for a second that synthetic life had come on a bit already!

Leslie

SirFozzalot

Reminds of "I am Legend".

Wasn't that started by messing about with a virus (measles I think) to attack cancer cells?

Leslie

You are just trying to make me feel better aren't you?

Les