Should Humans Meddle with Nature?

Vote below.

Few questions are more simple yet more complex. Should we muck around with Mother Nature when trying to do good or useful things that could have unknown consequences?

Is it OK to genetically design crops to be more productive or pest-resistant, even though doing so might pose a risk to Nature herself? What about tweaking stem cells to cure disease, or creating antibiotics to fight infection? Sequestering carbon into the ground or dumping iron into the ocean to reduce global warming?

"We are ourselves a product of nature," philosopher A C Grayling said at the Ways with Words festival in the UK, sponsored by The Daily Telegraph. "The things we do to ourselves and to our environment is a natural outcome of the fact that we are creative, intelligent and exploratory. We should not be afraid of trying to get the benefits of certain possibilities," he said. "A certain kind of courage or risk taking is worthwhile."

(An aside: Check out this scientists' list of 14 Things That Would Make Life Better.)

In The Water Cooler, Imaginova's Editorial Director Robert Roy Britt looks at what people are talking about in the world of science and beyond. Find more in the archives and on Twitter.