I agree he has the aesthetic of a rationalist- probabilism rather than dialethism, due respect for existential risks- but I doubt anyone who raves about GMO crops posing an existential risk to the species could be a rationalist.
Afraid to step forward because of an unimaginably distant, abstract threat of ruin, while ignoring the far less distant potential for a sprint for GMO tech to mitigate other extinction risks by making it easier to produce food with limited resources (for example, the limited remaining highlands after sea level rise, temperature increase, land abuses, or from underground bunkers running on limited energy sources with limited populations).
I agree he has the aesthetic of a rationalist- probabilism rather than dialethism, due respect for existential risks- but I doubt anyone who raves about GMO crops posing an existential risk to the species could be a rationalist.
http://bigthink.com/risk-reason-and-reality/taleb-on-gmos-advocacy-masquerading-poorly-as-honest-intellectual-argument (this article makes a lot of invalid attacks, but it provides an overview)
Afraid to step forward because of an unimaginably distant, abstract threat of ruin, while ignoring the far less distant potential for a sprint for GMO tech to mitigate other extinction risks by making it easier to produce food with limited resources (for example, the limited remaining highlands after sea level rise, temperature increase, land abuses, or from underground bunkers running on limited energy sources with limited populations).