We hear a group of speakers from a conference on "Techno-Utopianism & the Fate of the Earth" organized last month by the International Forum on Globalization. A range of speakers offer perspectives on humanity's efforts to improve on nature, including critical looks at GM, synthetic biology, nanotechnology and electrosmog. Geoengineering, as we hear, is setting a new precedent - a technology designed not to improve life on earth but to mitigate the effects of older technologies.
Thanks to the International Forum on Globalization for organizing the conference from which the audio was drawn.
All the speakers are drawn from the afternoon session of the conference organized on October 25, 2014. The first speaker is Professor Clive Hamilton, from whom we heard about the dangers of geoengineering back in episode 663. Next we hear from a new speaker to the show, Pat Mooney, on the promise and dangers of nano technology and its almost complete lack of regulation. Next it is Debbie Barker from the Center for Food Safety on the failure of GM. She makes the point that while GM has singularly failed to live up to its promises as regards better yield and improved health of its consumers, it may nevertheless prove successful as a commercial enterprise for the GM companies. Next, we introduce a new speaker and a new topic to the show; we hear Jim Thomas who focuses on synthetic biology, which has been called "extreme genetic engineering". He concludes with a report of a breakthrough agreement on this hitherto largely unregulated area. Andy Kimbrell on genetic redesign of human beings. We conclude with Katy Singer on the still poorly understood but disturbing dangers of electromagnetic radiation. The pattern of carry out only token efforts to investigate potential health hazards is a disturbing one.
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