The last century was defined by how quickly we could invent and deploy everything. This century will be defined by our ability to collectively say NO to certain technologies. This will be the hardest challenge we’ve ever faced as a species. It’s antithetical to everything that has made civilization possible to date. For centuries, science and technology have succeeded because of an ideology of openness. This culture of peer-review, critical feedback and constant improvement has been the engine of progress powering us all forward. But with future generations of AI and synthetic biology, we will have to accept this process needs an update. Figuring out how to delicately do that without trashing innovation and freedom of thought will be incredibly hard. But left unchecked, naive open source - in 20 yrs time - will almost certainly cause catastrophe. The-coming-wave.com