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The '''Twin Nuclei Problem of Cell and Atom''' is the recognition that having gained the power to manipulate genetic and atomic nuclei between 1952 and 1953, humanity is now in possession of unprecedented destructive power, and thus capable of self-extinction. All of human civilization is now one correlated experiment, and any sufficiently large event may be enough to end it. That such an event has not yet occurred is largely a function of luck, and as evidenced by the | The '''Twin Nuclei Problem of Cell and Atom''' is the recognition that having gained the power to manipulate genetic and atomic nuclei between 1952 and 1953, humanity is now in possession of unprecedented destructive power, and thus capable of self-extinction. All of human civilization is now one correlated experiment, and any sufficiently large event may be enough to end it. That such an event has not yet occurred is largely a function of luck, and as evidenced by the coronavirus pandemic, that luck is fragile and running out. | ||
This operation of society characterized by magical thinking, that nothing truly bad can happen, is called [[The Big Nap]]. | This operation of society characterized by magical thinking, that nothing truly bad can happen, is called [[The Big Nap]]. |