>> True, but russell has a point the downside is potentially HUGE. > So is the effect of an asteroid striking the earth and most people > think it is only the subject for movies. Of course, most people > don't > look at the long term probabilites. Asteroid strike probabilities are as well known as we can reasonably get them, are not of our making, not huge in probability x magnitude product, not of our making, we are working towards knowing more, are not of our making, are liable to be able to do something about the 'problem' usefully withing the next century, are not of our making, nothing we are doing is making the problem worse or attempting to dangerously exploit an almost wholly unknown ultra dangerous set of arcane machinery and are not of our making. Also, they are not of our making. GM fails all these tests. And the corn/wheat/petunias we are creating could have the magnitude for the human specias of the postulated 'Dinosaur Killer'. > Sometimes we take chances. Indeed. But few of us have the opportunity, let alone the effrontery, as our good friends at eg M'... do, to make decisions for profit or fickle fortune, or just because it's Monday morning, which carry the risk of destroying the whole human race. Or worse :-). Doom, doom ... :-) Russell McMahon -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist