[extropy-chat] Article: "Laughter at people's fears"

[Neil Halelamien]

Over on Transterrestrial Musings I saw a link to a set of interesting
observations by a reporter at a genetics policy conference titled
"Babies by Design":

http://www.slate.com/Default.aspx?id=2111204&

If I had been at the conference I would have likely laughed along
heartily at the jokes made at the expense of unknowledgeable laymen,
although in reality that would be somewhat of a guilty pleasure. Even
though we may enjoy mocking the vast majority of society who fear the
unknowns of transhumanist technologies, I suspect that doing so will
lead to significant problems in the future.

I sincerely believe that it's of the utmost importance to try to
assuage the public's fears about these sorts of technologies, and I
don't think simply touting their expected benefits will be enough.
Just look at what happened with genetically modified foods and nuclear
power.

-- Neil