[Hplusroadmap] Ethics section

[ameluti at gmail.com]

> I think what we need is a
> task force that will be able to respond to the growing pains of people
> who might be looking to cause some damage ... i.e., be their friend and
> make sure they are OK and keep them talking and so on.

Hmm, do you really think that we'd see an "evil genius" type character
suddenly arise from a garage and try to destroy the world?
If anything, I'd expect such an initiative to come from some government or
"terrorist" organization, and there's very little that one can do to prevent
that.

The second cold war is looming on the horizon, there are tensions between
India and China, and then there's that thing with the Muslims and their
Caliphate.
The future doesn't look very bright in this regard.

Instead, I'm more interested in a survivalist guide on what to do in case
someone out there lets loose a biological or chemical weapon on us. Tips on
what to look out for, how to quickly identify the nature of the threat, and
then how to avoid it would be great.

In all honesty, I have given quite a lot of thought to the issue in the past
few years, and I can say that it's an event that I see as a distinct
possibility in the future.
So when shit hits the fans, I'd rather be prepared.

Some other questions are:
In a real life scenario, can current biological weapons pose an extinction
level threat for the human race?

If a biological weapon is on the loose, is there any way to stop or contain
it other than to quarantine the infected areas and hope that it doesn't come
out?

Yes or No: a big city with sufficient in and out traffic is pretty much
doomed to fall when faced with a quickly spreading virus.

What kind of virus would pose the biggest threat: airborne? waterborne?
foodborne? anything else?

What can we do as individuals to minimize the risk of biological weapons to
ourselves?

What can we do as a society to minimize the risk of biological weapons to
the human race as a whole?

Just a few questions off a top of my head that I'd like to hear some answers
to.

On Feb 11, 2008 7:37 AM, Dan Bolser <dan.bolser at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 10/02/2008, Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Sunday 10 February 2008, Chris Norwood wrote:
> > > Wow, I am impressed at what you all have been getting done. I think
> > > it important to also have an ethics section or links to bio-ethics as
> > > it is regular practice now and people are more scared of garage-style
> > > experiments going awry than larger-scale ones since procedures and
> > > controls are very light.
> >
> > I have given many hours of thought to the problem of ethics. Suppose
> > that a trouble-maker shows up on the scene and wants to do something
> > harmful. Having written a document on ethics on a site somewhere will
> > not do much help, it never does. Instead, I think what we need is a
> > task force that will be able to respond to the growing pains of people
> > who might be looking to cause some damage ... i.e., be their friend and
> > make sure they are OK and keep them talking and so on. That's the only
> > way that we can prevent any significant damage. A responsive community
> > of sorts. A few documents on ethics on the site isn't going to detour
> > troublemakers, but it could help, given the right presentation, on
> > which subject I am open to suggestions.
> >
> > "Thou shalt not deply a superbacterium to destroy the human race." ??
>
> Thats more of an ethical rule of thumb than an ethical argument.
> Teaching ethics is important for exactly the above reasons - it tells
> us how to behave, how to think, what to do. Its not easy, but it would
> be great to see some forward thinking bioethics / biosophy. Normally
> all ethical considerations lag behind the existing technology, but
> that need not be the case.
>
> I'll try and add some pointers to some future ethical issues (as I see
> them) as time permits.
>
>
>
>
>
> >
> > - Bryan
> > ________________________________________
> > Bryan Bishop
> > http://heybryan.org/
> > _______________________________________________
> > Hplusroadmap mailing list
> > Hplusroadmap at heybryan.org
> > http://heybryan.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hplusroadmap
> >
>
>
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