[giraffe_lady]

You can't know what all of its higher order consequences will be but you certainly can predict how a technology will be used. For example predictions that AI chatbots would be used for spam and phishing were exactly correct!

And just because development can't or shouldn't be completely stopped doesn't mean you can throw up your hands and do nothing either. The (so far) success of nuclear deterrance and nonproliferation for example is the result of a massive, coordinated, and preemptive attempt to constrain the technology.

[ddkper]

You can predict some use cases sure but not all. Thats what creativity is. To claim that anyone predicted TCP/IP would be used for half the things the internet powers today is laughable. In fact, for them to predict most of that would be in principle to invent these things.

For example, to predict in the 1970's TCP/IP would be used to enable bitcoin would be articulating the invention of bitcoin. Nobody predicted it, it was creatively developed using technologies that the founders invented with no idea it would be used for cryptocurrency.

You can always find a reason to be a doomer about the technology because it's easier to predict negative consequences than to predict the good that will come of it. To argue the negative side, one must only create a hypothetical. To argue the positive, one must practically invent the positive use-case which requires work and creativity.

You can say CRISPR is far too dangerous and allows for designer babies, a moral dilemma. This creates a strong hypothetical argument right off the bat, but for it to be proven a beneficial technology it actually needs the time to develop positive use cases like curing sickle cell disease.