Enviado por Jim Thomas el
Jim Thomas
Written for The Ecologist - November 2008
Don’t be fooled by The Cloud – the world of the internet seems weightless, but it is leaving an increasingly heavy footprint behind it
Enviado por ETC Staff el
You can fool some of the people all of the time; and, all of the people some of the time; but, you can't fool all of the people all of the time... However, you may be able to persuade enough of the people to monitor everyone all of the time.
Over 30 years ago, Oxford ethologist, Dr. Richard Dawkins, took sabbatical leave to write The Selfish Gene, one of the most disturbing books in a time of many disturbing books. Dawkins espoused the theory that human evolution is nurtured by numerous forces -- the gene, or DNA -- being only one. Human beings, Dawkins speculated, could evolve cultural memes capable of Darwinian replication. It was an outlandish concept without "coat tails" -- at least that chapter of his book didn't attract many followers.
ETC Group would have given the idea of cultural memetics a pass were it not for a high-level meeting of US government officials, scientists, and industry held in Washington three months after 9/11 that made research into cultural memetics a priority. Then, two years later, a book by Britain's much-respected Astronomer Royal brought us back to memetics with his concern that it may be possible to medicate social attitudes and manipulate human nature.
But, the most compelling reason to track this potentiality is because it makes sense. If, as the UN University‘s 2005 State of the Future Report suggest, we are entering the era of the Massively Destructive Individual - where anyone, anywhere could be devastatingly violent, using anything - then massive surveillance is, at best, a partial response. Aggressive surveillance will elicit a massive social reaction. Better than surveillance is surrender. If society can be cajoled into surrendering its information than the likelihood of a successful defense increases. Better still, if society can be convinced to surrender control over its own actions, then the world's dominating corporate/government partnership can sleep at night. Civil society needs to dissect the logic and the feasibility of all this...
Enviado por Jim Thomas el
Written for The Ecologist 01/10/2008
Available online at http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=1978
If there is a video gamer in your life, chances are that you have heard of Spore, the latest creation from the super successful inventor of ‘The Sims’.
Enviado por Jim Thomas el
Apparently in some places they call Hong Kong "Disneyland". What better place than among the sci-fitowers of this gotham-city landscape for the brave new pioneers of Synthetic Biology to gather, plan and celebrate the next stage of artificial life. For the next few days Synthetic Biology 4.0, the fourth global congress of syn bio leaders, will be meeting at Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology to discuss synthetic organisms, whole genome construction, next generation biofuels and all manner of biohackery.
Enviado por ETC Staff el
Peak oil, skyrocketing fuel costs and climate crisis are driving corporate enthusiasm for a “biological engineering revolution” that some predict will dramatically transform industrial production of food, energy, materials, medicine and all of nature. Advocates of converging technologies promise a greener, cleaner post-petroleum future where the production of economically important compounds depends not on fossil fuels – but on biological manufacturing platforms fueled by plant sugars. It may sound sweet and clean, but the so-called “sugar economy” will also be the catalyst for a corporate grab on all plant matter – and destruction of biodiversity on a massive scale.
Enviado por ETC Staff el
Synthetic biologists, a brave new breed of science entrepreneurs who engineer life-forms from scratch, will hold their largest-ever global gathering in Hong Kong, October 10-12 2008, known as "Synthetic Biology 4.0." Although most people have never heard of synthetic biology, it's moving full speed ahead fueled by giant agribusiness, energy and chemical corporations with little debate about who will control the technology, how it will be regulated (or not) and despite grave concerns surrounding the safety and security risks of designer organisms. Corporate investors/partners include BP, Chevron, Shell, Virgin Fuels, DuPont, Microsoft, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland.
Enviado por Jim Thomas el
Henry Ford dreamed of making plastic cars out of soy. Now Dow, DuPont and other chemical giants are also dreaming of a ‘green’ future. But, as Jim Thomas argues, bioplastic is not the eco-solution it’s cracked up to be.
Article from New Internationalist Magazine September 2008 issue - available online here
Enviado por ETC Staff el
Debido a la crisis del petróleo, a la escalada en los precios de los combustibles y a la crisis del clima, las corporaciones redirigen su entusiasmo hacia una “revolución de la ingeniería biológica” que algunos auguran transformará dramáticamente la producción industrial de alimentos, energía, materias primas, medicina y la naturaleza entera. Los entusiastas de las tecnologías convergentes prometen una era post-petróleo más verde y limpia, donde la producción de compuestos importantes para la economía no dependerá de los combustibles fósiles, sino de la manufactura de plataformas biológicas alimentadas por azúcares vegetales. Tal vez suene dulce y limpio, pero la llamada “economía del azúcar” también catalizará la voracidad de las corporaciones por toda la materia vegetal —y con ello, la destrucción de la biodiversidad a una escala masiva.
Enviado por ETC Staff el
Se puede engañar a algunos todo el tiempo y a todos parte del tiempo, pero no se puede engañar a todos todo el tiempo… Sin embargo, se puede convencer a un número suficiente de gente para monitorearnos a todos, todo el tiempo.
En el contexto de los nuevos asaltos a los bienes comunes, las tecnologías de punta (como la nanotecnología, la genómica, la biología sintética, robótica e informática) ocupan un papel importante, ya que proveen herramientas instrumentales
para nuevas formas de despojo. Separadas, esas tecnologías tienen particularidades y problemas propios, pero los aspectos más peligrosos están en su sinergia y convergencia y el aprovechamiento de éstas por parte de las élites. Tenemos que analizar esto con sumo cuidado, no sólo considerando los probables impactos al ambiente, a la salud y a las economías, (que ciertamente son significativos), sino estimando que estas nuevas y poderosas tecnologías, especialmente por ser desarrolladas en el contexto de sociedades injustas, habilitan nuevas formas de control, vigilancia y dominio, así como los intentos por eliminar la disidencia social.
Enviado por Jim Thomas el
Can science save the planet or should we avoid putting our faith in high-tech fixes to deliver us from the ecological mess we‘ve made? Jim Thomas and Paul Fitzgerald push each other’s buttons.
Read the debate here in the latest issue of New Internationalist Magazine: http://www.newint.org/features/special/2008/08/01/technofixes/
Enviado por Jim Thomas el
Mapmaking and conquest has a disturbingly close history. As indigenous people learned, the innocuous mapmaker may be followed by weapons, property claims and exploitation. So too for the recent rash of science projects using mapping
Enviado por Charlie el
Written for The Ecologist - 20/06/2008
As to global annihilation, I’m stumped. Most of us wouldn’t recognise a strangelet if it casually devoured us in the street
Enviado por Charlie el
Written for The Ecologist - 20/07/2008
If radical vegan Ingrid Newkirk has her way, the nouvelle cuisine on vegetarian menus in five years time may be a big juicy steak.
Newkirk, founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has offered a $1 million prize to whoever can scale-up stem cell techniques that grow edible animal tissue – so called lab-grown meat – for a mass market.
Enviado por ETC Staff el
Reporte especial sobre genómica humana
Pruebas personales de ADN y el mito de la medicina personalizada:
kits para muestras de saliva, chips SNP y genómica humana
El tema de este reporte es la industria de las pruebas genéticas personales, que promete a los consumidores darles una individual para mantener la salud así como un “horóscopo” basado en la genética para predecir enfermedades futuras.
Enviado por ETC Group el
Biofuels fuel global food crisis
Toronto Star/star.com July 08, 2008
PAT MOONEY
As G8 leaders meet this week in Japan, their ears will still be ringing from the bombshell dropped last week in a leaked World Bank report declaring that biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75 per cent, far higher than previously estimated.
Enviado por Charlie el
Testimony of Pat Mooney
Executive Director of ETC Group
Before the Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources-regarding Bill C-33 (the "Biofuels Bill")
Senate of Canada
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Thank you. I will begin by confessing that I am not an expert on biofuels. I feel as though my life has been hijacked by biofuels over the last few months.
Enviado por Charlie el
During the United Nations High-Level Conference on World Food Security, Climate Change and Bioenergy, Rome-based U.N. agencies announced yesterday that a new partnership was struck between the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP).
Enviado por ETC Staff el
Issue: The world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more. BASF, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dupont and biotech partners have filed 532 patent documents (a total of 55 patent families) on so-called “climate ready” genes at patent offices around the world. In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis, the Gene Giants are gearing up for a PR offensive to re-brand themselves as climate saviours. The focus on so-called climate-ready genes is a golden opportunity to push genetically engineered crops as a silver bullet solution to climate change. But patented techno-fix seeds will not provide the adaptation strategies that small farmers need to cope with climate change. These proprietary technologies will ultimately concentrate corporate power, drive up costs, inhibit independent research, and further undermine the rights of farmers to save and exchange seeds.
Enviado por ETC Staff el
Asunto: las mayores empresas mundiales de semillas y productos agroquímicos están acumulando centenares de patentes monopólicas sobre genes de plantas, que luego pretenden comercializar como cultivos modificados genéticamente para resistir presiones ambientales tales como sequía, calor, frío, inundaciones, suelos salinos y otras. BASF, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dupont y socios de la industria de la biotecnología presentaron 532 solicitudes de patentes (un total de 55 familias de patentes) sobre genes llamados “resistentes al clima” en oficinas de patente de todo el mundo. Frente al caos climático y a una profundización de la crisis alimentaria mundial, los Gigantes Genéticos encabezan una ofensiva para “venderse” como los salvadores del clima. El énfasis puesto en los genes llamados “resistentes al clima” es una excelente oportunidad para promocionar los cultivos transgénicos como panacea para resolver el problema del cambio climático. Pero el “arreglo técnico” que suponen las semillas patentadas no aportará las estrategias de adaptación que necesitan los pequeños agricultores para lidiar con el cambio climático. Esas tecnologías de propiedad exclusiva no harán más que concentrar el poder corporativo, aumentarán los costos, inhibirán la investigación independiente y debilitarán aún más los derechos de los agricultores a conservar e intercambiar las semillas.
Enviado por ETC Staff el
Stalled at the eleventh hour by three isolated countries that are attempting to block consensus, most of the world’s environment ministries and others are on the brink of reaching agreement on a worldwide moratorium on commercial ocean fertilization – controversial proposals to dump nutrients in the ocean to artificially alter the climate. The three blocking countries, Australia, China and Brazil have spent several days manipulating the process to avoid discussion and prevent progress, much to the exasperation of delegates and observers. The clock runs out on negotiations at 6pm today (30. May 2008).
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