that’s whacked

Bill Joy knocked as ‘conspiracy theorist’ by tech zealot | The Register

Friday, Jul 22. 2005  –  Category: Quotage

Bill Joy knocked as ‘conspiracy theorist’ by tech zealot | The Register

Joy, partaking in an AlwaysOn 2005 Innovation Summit panel discussion entitled “Is technology making us safer?”, went on to say global warming and pandemics like Asian bird flue can only be solved using strong public policy.

“Political constipation” and partisanship in Washington meant Non Government Organizations (NGOs) are better placed to tackle these issues, Joy said.

Interesting article at The Register. I would have liked to have heard the debate, or at least read the transcript. Gilder’s counterpoint to Joy’s push for better public-policy & NGO involvement was to say: “What worries me is people today who are worried about global warming. We have these real phobias that distract our attention. The best remedy for Bill’s threat is very fast advances in bio engineering and pharmacology, and an array of scientific advances,” Gilder observed.”

While I agree that advances in bioengineering/pharmacology/science-in-general can help some things like the avian flu/global warming/etc… it’s not the complete solution. We can’t rely on a steady stream of advances. Scientific genius and progress is not always dependable.

We need public policy to try and decrease our emissions to stop the increase in global warming. But we also need science/tech advancement. The two have to go hand in hand. We need pharmacology to help figure out exactly how the avian flu spread to humans, and we need public policy to ensure it doesn’t happen again. (okay, that’s slightly generalising the problem - but you get my picture)