Now Jed, you are agreeing with my conclusion. Should I take the
opposite view as you normally do?
My belief is that mankind will eventually find ways and means to
destroy all life as we know it. We are almost at this level now. The
only question is whether these means will be used. That is where the
nature of the mind and its irrational features become important. Will
the leaders be able to control insanity in the population effectively
or will these leaders be insane themselves? People in the US are now
trying to find ways to control the insanity that occurs on a small but
growing scale, which shows itself most vividly when schools are shot
up. How do we control the insanity that the suicide bomber exhibits
by exploding car bombs in the heart of a city? Where does the
insanity of leaders in North Korea end? Now, as you note, drones may
give everyone a tool to gum up the works.
Ed
On Feb 25, 2013, at 4:21 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
David Roberson <[email protected]> wrote:
We have survived this long by some means so I assume that we will
continue to do so into the future.
I do not see the logic of that! That is like saying we have survived
countless wars, so why should we worry about a full-scale nuclear war?
In 1914 people said war is war, machine guns will not make much
difference, and valor will win the day just as it always has. They
were wrong. 9 million soldiers were killed. Valor made no difference
in the face of artillery and poison gas.
Technology can profoundly affect the nature of war, or domestic
violence, for that matter. Suppose those autonomous little cold
fusion powered robot killing machines I have predicted become
possible. Suppose they become very cheap and reliable. Anyone,
anywhere will be able to murder anyone else. I mean anyone anywhere
in the world, without getting caught, and without leaving a trace of
evidence. Think about that if you want a case of the heebee jeebees!
Think of all the people who want to kill political leaders. Or the
jihadists who have it in for authors such as Rusdie, and film
makers. Or any disgruntled ex-husband, or some nut who has it in for
one group or another: homosexuals, black people, Catholic School
girls . . .
I can think of many other nightmare scenarios. I put a few in my
book. I left out some, too.
I do not think cold fusion can easily be used to make small nuclear
bombs. But if it can, it might lead to worst catastrophe in human
history. I have been aware of this for a long time. I discussed it
with Martin Fleischmann and others. As I said, we have been thinking
about ways to deal with the problem. There may not be any good way!
- Jed
