13/12: Human Ingenuity, and its uses
Category: General
Posted by: an okie gardener
Every technological advance the human race has made, has been used to kill and enslave fellow human beings.
The invention of the bow and arrow made it easier to kill deer to feed the family: and to kill members of the neighboring tribe. Mastering the use of iron gave us better and more durable tools: and swords and armor superior to bronze. Roman engineering prowess built roads and aquaducts that still stand: and enabled them to destroy the walls of any city that resisted them. Dynamite made road building easier: and battlefields much more deadly. Nuclear technology provides low-cost electricity: and bombs that destroy cities. Computer technologies make the internet, and this blog, possible: and create precision-guided weapons and data systems for police-states.
This pattern of human history is one reason I am not thrilled-to-death by the developing genetic technology illustrated in these stories.
Mice with no fear of cats.
Cloned kittens that glow.
Somewhere, perhaps China, I bet a group of scientists is even now experimenting with genetic engineering of humans with the intent of creating ideal soldiers, or ideal mine workers. Bacteria and viruses never before seen in nature, for which humans would have no defense: right now someone is thinking what wonderful weapons these would be.
The invention of the bow and arrow made it easier to kill deer to feed the family: and to kill members of the neighboring tribe. Mastering the use of iron gave us better and more durable tools: and swords and armor superior to bronze. Roman engineering prowess built roads and aquaducts that still stand: and enabled them to destroy the walls of any city that resisted them. Dynamite made road building easier: and battlefields much more deadly. Nuclear technology provides low-cost electricity: and bombs that destroy cities. Computer technologies make the internet, and this blog, possible: and create precision-guided weapons and data systems for police-states.
This pattern of human history is one reason I am not thrilled-to-death by the developing genetic technology illustrated in these stories.
Mice with no fear of cats.
Cloned kittens that glow.
Somewhere, perhaps China, I bet a group of scientists is even now experimenting with genetic engineering of humans with the intent of creating ideal soldiers, or ideal mine workers. Bacteria and viruses never before seen in nature, for which humans would have no defense: right now someone is thinking what wonderful weapons these would be.
