Book contents
- Planet in Peril
- Reviews
- Planet in Peril
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Fictional Vignettes
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Existential Threats: The Four Most Pressing Dangers Facing Humankind
- 2 Fossil Fuels and Climate Change
- 3 Nukes for War and Peacetime
- 4 Pandemics, Natural or Bioengineered
- 5 Artificial Intelligence: Extreme Reward and Risk
- Part II Strategies and Obstacles: The Solutions We Need, and What’s Preventing Them from Being Realized
- Part III Sensible Steps for Today’s World: Powerful Measures We Can Implement Right Away
- Part IV The Middle-Term Goal: New International Tools for the Late Twenty-First Century
- Part V The Long-Term Goal: Envisioning a Mature System of Global Governance for the Twenty-Second Century
- Endnotes
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Pandemics, Natural or Bioengineered
from Part I - Existential Threats: The Four Most Pressing Dangers Facing Humankind
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2022
- Planet in Peril
- Reviews
- Planet in Peril
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Fictional Vignettes
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Existential Threats: The Four Most Pressing Dangers Facing Humankind
- 2 Fossil Fuels and Climate Change
- 3 Nukes for War and Peacetime
- 4 Pandemics, Natural or Bioengineered
- 5 Artificial Intelligence: Extreme Reward and Risk
- Part II Strategies and Obstacles: The Solutions We Need, and What’s Preventing Them from Being Realized
- Part III Sensible Steps for Today’s World: Powerful Measures We Can Implement Right Away
- Part IV The Middle-Term Goal: New International Tools for the Late Twenty-First Century
- Part V The Long-Term Goal: Envisioning a Mature System of Global Governance for the Twenty-Second Century
- Endnotes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Engineered life forms are no longer science fiction: scientists, industrialists, and even college or high school students are now busily engaged in redesigning existing biological organisms or designing entirely new life forms from scratch. These bioengineered life forms offer humankind many potential benefits, from creating new forms of fuel to getting rid of oil spills to turning household waste into useful new materials. Nevertheless, leading scientists in the field are warning the public that the dangers inherent in this biotechnological undertaking need to be taken seriously. Our society urgently needs better instruments both for responding to the danger of naturally occurring pandemics, and for regulating the research and development of synthetic biology. Two areas of particular concern are secret military research and the rapid rise of unregulated Do-It-Yourself biohackers.
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- Planet in PerilHumanity's Four Greatest Challenges and How We Can Overcome Them, pp. 46 - 56Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022