When you read those articles that discuss the advantages and disadvantages of new technology, and the risks inherent in low-probability, high-impact outcomes from emerging technologies: there is one important factor that never seems to be included — the benefit to scientists.
With the prospect of fame, fortune, and the realization of a dream in the balance; these scientists are the last people you can expect to give an impartial and unbiased opinion; and yet they are frequently the decision makers in our “should we risk it” scenario building.
Human nature is not something that only operates outside the boundaries of Science. And the Scientific Method demands that they be allowed to experiment to the end limits of their instrumentality – and beyond. Even if it’s the End of the World — They were the ones who brought it about. Megalomaniacs and Doomsday devices operate all the more freely behind today’s Selfless Science façade.
Not with a bang but a Nobel Prize winning obsession.