A poignant quote

[GliderGuider]

“Humankind is caught in a technological trap of its own devising and is faced with the problem of escaping from its own ingenuity.”

–Unidentified biologist quoted by Loren Eiseley

[cprise]

1. Its no longer a matter of 'devising' a way out

The battle at this point is almost purely cultural and essentially contained within Anglophone countries, with rare exceptions. We can choose tot do the right thing with the right technology, for instance, which means being choosy about our tools and processes. But too many of us indulge the cult of consumerism, which demands that we worship the innovator executives and their schemes as well as the piles of cash they cultivate (proof of their 'job creator' potential): If they want to unleash a new technology on the world, it is their money-given prerogative to try.

Problem is, most new technologies that are dreamed about (by engineers, VCs or whoever) are really just ways of cheating.

[limpyhobbler]

2. Here's another awesome quote from a DUer

"Because we pursue what is needed to make a profit instead of what is needed to guarantee our survival we have in essence guaranteed our extinction." source

Not that we're guaranteed to go extinct, but it is kind of surprising that preventing our own extinction is not the top goal. Our priorities are wrong. The system seems unable to respond in a rational way to the crisis.