It seems intuitively obvious to me that the current GM industries are playing Russian Roulette. With all life. There is no possible way they can take into account all the possible mishaps and interactions out there. No way.
Life has been playing Russian Roulette with life for ages. It's called 'natural selection'. Possible interactions have included crop diseases, plagues, and even the human virus which has wiped out most of its competitors and reshaped the globe in its image.
It's not 100% clear what you've said above is an argument, but it given it is a response to what I wrote it comes off as a defense of GM. You do realize that if your argument works it would also make a good defense for the use of biological weapons. Today. Since it is just more of the same, why not use it in Iraq adn Iran. Why spend time making up excuses, just go for the oil directly. It's just natural selection, which subspecies came up with the weapon first. Also the number of species threatened by an accident with GM is vaster than ever before. Do you know they came up with a modified bacteria that, upon final testing, showed that it replaced bacteria in the soil that make it possible for plants to live. Releasing such an organism is not natural selection. Land based vertabrates would all have died. In addition to all the species of plants. Oddly, as a mammal, I find that unnatural. And unnecessary. and sure, they caught that one. But we are talking about ecosystems that are beyond human's abilities to track. We should have been made humble by some of the 'solutions' used for certain problems, like the introduction of certain species into Australia that led to unforseen consequences because scientists were nto able to predict the incredibly complex effects of their simply solutions. Pigs with human genes. That's happening. Hmm. The food industry seems pretty good at developing animal to human virus vectors. Why not make it more likely and makes the pigs more human? They're going to mess up and your objective view of this is going to seem like Nero's fiddling.
Hmm, isn't that true of almost any action that we take? A simple car accident in New York could have devastating consequences in, say, California. History is full of "what-if's" and the likely consequences. But for all of the "what-if's" of an action, there's always one more. If people purchased more of Adolf Hitler's paintings, he'd have continued to paint, thus would not have aspired to power in Germany, thus World War II would not have been undertaken. As a consequence, rockets would not have been discovered, thus we'd not have begun to explore the moon and outer space, thus........... Baron Max
Don't know humans very well, do you, Spurious? People buy crap all the time, by the trainloads! Where have you been? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Baron Max
You've obviously missed the whole point of my posts, Spurious. It was all just one big "what-if" scenario ...and so in my "what-if" scenario, people did, in fact, purchase Hitler's paintings. This ain't got nothin' to do with reality, Spurious ...please play the game properly. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Baron Max
This thread seems to be based on what I call Frankenstein Mythology, the belief that some knowledge should be forbidden because it is contrary to god's will. People seem to be irrational in their attitude toward nuclear power, cloning, stem cell research, and various other technologies.
SUPPOSIVELY.... if you take a group of flys.. and mutant them.. with radiation... the babies... get born.. all messed up.. but... if you take those messed up flys... and raise and breed them. in a number of generations... the flys become normal again. the damage is lost... and the genome is repaired... somehow. mysterious... fun eh? -MT
Yeah, I guess the supporters are right.' Money never makes anyone sloppy. And the stakes are so low. I must be one of those small, but vocal special interest groups.
I for one demand an end to most.... most vivisection... and it sickens me to know that almost all the processed products in the usa contain some form of genetically modified material. we are all being used a guinie pigs. i for one.. dont eat any grains... and that means no cereal.
I don't think I mentioned God. I could be wrong, I guess. But I guess if you think I seem to be being irrational you can make hallucinatory assumptions. Is this role modeling rationality for me? I get it now.
Sure, but this makes it sound like concerns about ANY ACTION AT ALL is therefore precluded. We had concerns about above ground testing of nuclear weopons. We stopped. We were concerned about not taking enough precautions to prevent the spread of aid via unprotected sex. So many people changed their habits and the spread of the disease slowed. I can come up with any number of public policies and private choices where similar concerns led to healthy choices. You could at least say that you know something about the safety measures taken by GM companies and the government watchdogs and your sense is that the measures are adequate given the risks. Basically your argument would say that a concerned reaction to any action cannot be justified. Oh, sure they're taking Jews and putting them on trains. But do you have an proof they are doing anything bad. I think they wanted to move to Poland. We now have private companies, many of them virtually unregulated and many charged with regulating their own security and safety procedures and the carrying out of such. A product coming out two months after a competitors might mean the loss of millions. Is it really so strange to wonder if we will soon have a major accident. The difference between GM and Nuclear accidents is the potential for say, a common bacteria to be involved. That could mean worldwide transmission. Not that Chernobly or non-nuke Bhopal weren't bad enough. You've chosen an intersting role in society. Assuming that concern about any action is unfounded concern.
Yes, but there are also natural disasters GM could prevent. We shouldn't be careless. But we shouldn't be Luddites either. Balance in all things. Do you have a source for this bacteria claim?
