h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good luck

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I'm a fan of Gaia too - not to the extent that many people are (taking it almost to a religion) but as a way of looking at our planet (in which sense nobody can say it's 'wrong').

Regarding nuclear power I'm still undecided, but mostly in favour of it. It's statistically far safer than conventional forms of energy (but when an accident happens, it's very high profile. Same problem with planes vs. cars - everybody works hard to make planes safer because crashes get such a high media profile, but cars are far more dangerous but because everybody is used to cars crashing all the time, nobody takes any notice any more)
The problem I have with nuclear power is the waste, and until we can solve that problem I think we should be cautious about using it. And the fact that Britain and the US use depleted uranium pellets in their weapons is pretty disgusting too.

While I'm on the subject, has anybody heard of 'Z'? It's a nuclear fusion power plant being developed - there are others working in slightly different ways but Z is the most successful so far. I can't claim to know much about nuclear fusion but it produces vast amounts of power with no unhealthy by-products at all.

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I am not very worried about nuclear fission energy. The risks are easy to understand and to deal with. The biggest problem is the human factor. If humans in charge of nuclear power plants only behave responsibly, there is very little cause for concern. I think if people really thought hard about the problem, they'd also find something useful to do with radioactive waste.

I really hope nuclear fusion can become practical. I'm keeping my eye on developments.

About the Thames Barrier: that gave me an interesting mental picture of a futuristic scenario with London surrounded by a huge 200-ft sea wall, an island in the middle of the ocean with the British coast far off! Or maybe Britain will be lots of separate islands by then! Think they'll be able to build fast enough? It may be a few centuries yet before the sea has risen to its maximum level. I hope we'll be able to stop and reverse global warming before then!

Genetic engineering worries me much more than nuclear power or even global warming. In this respect I disagree with Lovelock. It is a potentially huge threat. The New Scientist article about killer viruses is relevant. This technology makes possible the design of viruses more dangerous than any that have ever existed before. And the technology is easier than nuclear weapons. With the right information (and that is freely available) a group of people with a small lab can engineer a killer disease and with very little effort it can be unleashed among the public. Terrorism can reach glorious new heights. This is important to grasp - with life in most countries getting worse and worse, and with global injustices and inequalities increasing, some nihilist with a grudge against humanity is bound to decide soon that the best solution to the world's problems would be to wipe out all of mankind. And that can be done with GE, no problem, easy, straightforward. It only takes dedication and persistance. And the cruelty of the world is reaching levels where it gives large numbers of people a motive to dedicate their lives towards a cause such as this. Killer viruses are like nuclear bombs that replicate themselves quickly and effortlessly and that spread on their own everywhere.

'Genetic engineering worries me much more than nuclear power or even global warming. In this respect I disagree with Lovelock. It is a potentially huge threat' I agree but it is also huge potential, again its the human factor - how & when we use it.

That is why we must emphasise humanity, values, ethics and responsibility more, and we must do it everywhere!

for example, could we genetically engineer people with great wings who could fly. And if we could, would that be a good thing?

'for example, could we genetically engineer people with great wings who could fly. And if we could, would that be a good thing?'

Given time science probaly could, but only with a great breech of current ethics & morals. Still coould be fun - there is an easy way to do his - become a muse or guardian angel

On the news today it was 'revealed' that the MOD knew about the effects of depleted uranium all along. The evidence was a document listing side effects such as cancer and brain damage. The MOD claim it was written by a trainee, and so not important.

Hmm.

When I got time, I will stick my physicist hat on and do a proper post on D.U.

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