Fair enough, but I don't know of any researchers in this field (as represented by those on this list) who propose to play God or make deployment decisions about geoengineering. Scientists and engineers propose to develop different options for managing risk, and leave it to accountable decision-makers (political leaders) to choose the path forward. So the title and premise of the article are mistaken from the outset.
Josh On Wednesday, April 25, 2012 10:41:05 AM UTC-4, Christopher Preston wrote: > > Like it or not, the ‘playing God’ frame is widely used to raise > questions about a certain types of technology (e.g. biotechnology and > synthetic biology). If you don’t take the ‘God’ part literally, the > framing can be thought of in secular terms as raising questions about > the proper role humans should adopt in relation to planetary > processes. It seems to me that this remains an open question….. and > some legitimate ethical discussions could take place. > > On Apr 24, 7:32 pm, Mike MacCracken <mmacc...@comcast.net> wrote: > > What a truly terrible title (or maybe tag line) for an article in a > science > > magazine. > > > > Both greenhouse gas induced climate change, and the proposed response to > it, > > are, or would be, a result of humans relying on the laws of physics and > > chemistry‹not some sort of super power. Whom does the article say is > causing > > the change‹human activities or God? Is not causing the change with GHGs > and > > choosing not to act to control emissions ³playing² God? And ³play² makes > > this all sound like a little game when the discussion is much more > serious. > > And no way are engineers saying they are in charge, so they miss all the > > discussion on governance, etc. > > > > I¹ll agree I am a literalist because scientists try to be precise in > their > > use of words (it might be interesting to ask them to define ³God²--their > > capital letter). Really poorly title choice, in my view. > > > > Mike MacCracken > > > > On 4/24/12 9:05 PM, "RAU greg" <gh...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > "E&T asks whether engineers should play God, making fundamental > changes to the > > > environment and attempting to control climate change. " > > > > > Should engineers control the eco-system? > > > 23 April 2012By Anne Harris > > > With the visible effects of climate change growing, is it time for > engineers > > > to step in and make fundamental changes to the eco-system? > > > Anyone who has delved into the morass of conflicting reports and > opinions that > > > surround the thorny issue of climate change will readily admit that > plain > > > Œtruth¹ is not easy to come by. There are many fields in science where > > > controversies still remain. This is healthy for science. It keeps us > on our > > > toes and forces us to question our assumptions and models. So it is > revealing > > > that, when it comes to climate change, the overwhelming majority of > scientists > > > acknowledge that it is taking place, that it is potentially > catastrophic and > > > is, in all likelihood, caused by humans. > > > > > Having given this acceptance, the next question on scientists¹ lips is > whether > > > anything can be done. The drive is on, albeit grudgingly and at an > agonisingly > > > torpid pace, to limit the volume of greenhouse gases that are pumped > into the > > > atmosphere, but that alone is unlikely to be sufficient. What is > really > > > required is a solution that will reverse the climate-change effects, > and this > > > has been dubbed Œgeoengineering¹. > > > > > much more here: http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2012/04/index.cfm -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/geoengineering/-/ZMmtIPXOMjAJ. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
