Monthly Archives: October 2014

Genetically Modified Organisms Risk Global Ruin, Says Black Swan Author — The Physics arXiv Blog

Taleb and co focus on two examples. The first is nuclear energy. They point out that many people are justifiably concerned about the risk associated with nuclear energy. Scientists are well aware of the harm that can be caused by radiation release, core meltdown and the disposal of radioactive waste and these risks have been studied extensively.

While the potential harm from a nuclear accident can be large, it is generally scale dependent and far from global. So when it comes to making decisions about whether to use nuclear energy on a local scale, the risks involved can be managed using appropriate safety measures that have been carefully considered.

Taleb and co contrast this to the case of genetically modified organisms. They argue that the risk from genetically modified organisms is a potential for widespread impact on the ecosystem and widespread impact on human health. In other words, it is scale independent.

via Genetically Modified Organisms Risk Global Ruin, Says Black Swan Author — The Physics arXiv Blog — Medium.

Finally, soon after the posting of the Precautionary Principle paper on ArXiv…

Finally, soon after the posting of the Precautionary Principle paper on ArXiv, the debate on GMOs is starting — and the (rigorous) physics community is getting the point. This summary is from the ArXiv blog. They overhype my role in the paper and downplay that of others, Rupert Read and Yaneer Bar Yam.

https://medium.com/…/genetically-modified-organisms-risk-gl…

Experts have severely underestimated the risks of genetically modified food, says a group of researchers lead by Nassim …

via Finally, soon after the posting of the… – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.