[TheForge] OT: GM foods OT:

[Andrew Vida]

peter fels wrote:
> On May 26, 2011, at 6:26 PM, CGRAF wrote:
> 
>> On 5/26/2011 7:39 PM, peter fels wrote:
> 
> The doctor, the engineer, the chemist, the auto mechanic and
> ourselves all do the best we can ( ideally) with the tools and
> information we have at hand. Can't not act, for fear of screw up ,

	Fully agree in most cases.  Genetics would seem to be something of an 
exception to this general rule; at least at this state of the current 
art.  Our knowledge of this technology is very meager, the potential 
harms rightly assumed to be potentially very great.  I see no reason to 
hurry with this.  The profit motive clearly feels otherwise.


> all too many times. All of us pretend we know what we are doing, and
> keep a straight face. Gotta hope we do more good than harm.

Hope?  Seems like a cop out of sorts, as the mindset tends to let guilty 
parties off the hook when they should have their hides nailed to trees. 
  We don't have to hope quite as much as we do.  If we slow down and 
study these issues broadly, diversely, and competently, the need for 
hope is greatly minimized.  Risk is always present, no matter what we 
do.  Excessive hand wringing will accomplish nothing good, but 
recklessness is neither the answer.

The abilities to safely investigate these technologies are abundandly 
available to us.  The will  and patience appear to be the only things 
lacking.