Commentary to Nathan Gardels

In this commentary to Nathan Gardels, Amory Lovins discusses the unintended consequences and existential risks associated with four powerful technologies: nuclear fission, genetic manipulation, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. Lovins argues that the pursuit of technological possibility without wisdom or feedback mechanisms poses a grave threat to humanity and suggests that safer, more biologically informed alternatives often exist.

• Amory Lovins identifies nuclear fission as a technology with the enduring potential to annihilate humanity, noting that while the Cold War has ended, the risk is increasing because bomb-making technology is more available and fissionable materials are spreading to less responsible actors.
• Lovins criticizes genetic manipulation for treating living systems with a reductionist, mechanistic mindset and accelerating biological evolution by roughly a billionfold. He argues this pace prevents the detection of mistakes and shifts the goal of evolution from biological success to economic profit.
• The author asserts that both nuclear power and genetic manipulation provide insubstantial benefits compared to alternatives. He claims nuclear power is the world's slowest-growing energy source and that genetically modified crops fail to beat the yields or economics of biologically informed agriculture.
• Nanotechnology is described as having the potential for efficient 'desktop manufacturing' but also the dangerous possibility of creating self-replicating, microbe-sized antipersonnel weapons.

APA

Lovins, A. (n.d.). Commentary to Nathan Gardels. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_B01-08_Gardels_Joy.pdf

Chicago

Lovins, Amory. Commentary to Nathan Gardels. RMI, n.d. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_B01-08_Gardels_Joy.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Lovins |first1=Amory |title=Commentary to Nathan Gardels |publisher=RMI |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_B01-08_Gardels_Joy.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{lovinsndcommentary, author = {Lovins, Amory}, title = {{Commentary to Nathan Gardels}}, publisher = {RMI}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_B01-08_Gardels_Joy.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }