What scientists? You/Me scientist, or the collective Borg of socialist scientific protoplasm?
Borg - government takes control, and a mess precipitates. Me - I become the world’s foremost climatologist, able to predict weather far more accurately than any others. Wealthy beyond measure from predictions and investments. Institutions and government supporting freedom are surprisingly met with benign and beneficial weather. Those that are totalitarian are dealt severe hands.
I think it's not what if but when. Human activities are already causing global warming, which will be very costly. Reducing emissions and deforestation is all we have right now, but they're nothing compared to technology that would influence the climate deliberately in ways that are beneficial, not costly. We should be working on a engineering approaches to global warming, not waiting to stumble upon them.
Their 'masters' would have the ultimate leverage to profit and force subservience.
Consider (and this is already theoretically possible), It is thought by dropping ice crystals into the atmosphere in front of a hurricane the hurricane can be steered away from places. If the US used this capability and steered hurricanes away from the Gulf area and it instead struck Mexico, Mexico would sue for damages and any loss of life, no? Less severe, the US steers the hurricane into an area of vacant and open sea, those areas typical counting on torrential rains and the churned up sea beds could sue for loss profitability and damage to their ecosystem.
As with many things theses days, just because we (conceive that we) can, doesn't mean we should.
Sounds like science fiction I know, but so were a lot of other things years ago that we now take for granted. Who would own the intellectual rights? Who would control the process and besides regulating geologic temperature, what else would they change? would it be weaponized? Politicized?
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Borg - government takes control, and a mess precipitates.
Me - I become the world’s foremost climatologist, able to predict weather far more accurately than any others. Wealthy beyond measure from predictions and investments. Institutions and government supporting freedom are surprisingly met with benign and beneficial weather. Those that are totalitarian are dealt severe hands.
Consider (and this is already theoretically possible), It is thought by dropping ice crystals into the atmosphere in front of a hurricane the hurricane can be steered away from places. If the US used this capability and steered hurricanes away from the Gulf area and it instead struck Mexico, Mexico would sue for damages and any loss of life, no? Less severe, the US steers the hurricane into an area of vacant and open sea, those areas typical counting on torrential rains and the churned up sea beds could sue for loss profitability and damage to their ecosystem.
As with many things theses days, just because we (conceive that we) can, doesn't mean we should.