Adventure Ausrama Blog

You cannot change the way people think. Legislating will change behavior for a time until civil unrest or violence moves things back to the way they used to be. This will be the case with Internet laws in Australia to stop piracy. Only when the programs demanded are made available at a fair price will piracy stop. The same will be true will new "compulsory" vaccination. Some people would rather go to jail than immunize their children. Their religious or moral beliefs may seem misguided to others, but such parents are entitled to their faith. Similarly, attempts to stop paracetamol poisoning will fail because society has been inculcated with the concept that you pop a Panadol when you feel the slightest pain. We learn this as children. A crying baby makes a mother reach for the paracetamol syrup. Babies love the sweet, fruity taste. Putting all analgesics on prescription will boost the income of doctors and pharmacists. The cheap brands will not be ava...

There is danger from future widespread use of nanotechnology. It is seen as the new savior to save the world from food shortages and so on. But like bio-fuel production it could do more harm than good. CSIRO is calling for more study of nanotechnology. This is despite the fact that no country has yet examined safety issues involved with it. Nanotechnology creates "micro-fine" products that have no safe disposal system. If they get into the environment there is not telling what damage they could do. Risks are seemingly endless: use by terrorists; environmental damage; self-reproduction (goo everywhere); even the future of Mankind on this planet could be under threat. Once a material has been modified or a new nano-product created it becomes a permanent structure. It must be chemically altered to make it safe. A nano-substance is not inert. It will act on the environment if it can. At the moment there are no restrictions. Developers can do what they wish. Let's h...