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Biodiversity is directly related to human health. We are now in our sixth extinction, for several decades, called the Holocene extinction, caused by man. Nanotech and Genetic Engineering are so far removed from ecology and have the potential to wipe man off the face of the earth because all the hard scientists, that is the chemists and physicists, generally do not consider the waste stream and where all this technology returns when discarded and used. That end point is the ecosystem that supports biodiversity. If we keep worshiping future tech without knowledge of ecology, all of us, we simply are not going to make it as a species, with or without these fancy new technologies. We still have yet to understand the old fashioned ecology that sustains us. It is pure hubris to introduce these new technologies into the ecosystem so quickly. No one knows the long term consequences of the introduction of nanotech and the like, just like when we introduced invasive species without knowing the intended consequences. Slowing down with caution is not our strength. There is simply too much money to be made to be cautious. Who will pay in the end when this stuff ends up in our waste stream, the ecosystem? Humanity. I feel so strong about this, I decided not to have children, the odds are they will be the ones to pay, and so will yours. No one listens to the life scientists, only the tech scientists. This will be our doom down the road. Get the opinions of all the life scientists you can. High tech doesn't want to hear this.
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