The Blog Heralds least favourite Australian High Court Jugde and noted political activist, Justice Michael Kirby, is reported in this mornings Sydney Morning Herald as warning against the threat of hositle robots and “quark atoms”, and that they dwarf al-Qaeda as the biggest threat of the 21st Century.
In a keynote address at a Centenary Medal ceremony at Paddington Town Hall, Sydney Friday night, the High Court judge warned of biotechnology running riot.
Reminiscent of a Matrix-style scenario where machines rule the world, Justice Kirby’s doomsday fears came from an article by Martin Rees, Britain’s Astronomer Royal, in a recent issue of New Scientist magazine – an article he described as “the most important thing I read this year”.
Rees has claimed humanity has only a 50:50 chance of surviving the 21st century.
The judge quoted Rees’s contention that scientific menace is “infinitely more . . . deserving of our attention than al-Qaeda”.
Justice Kirby has been surrounded in controversy since his appointment to the High Court, from the allegations of drug taking at an early age to his living arrangements. The Blog Herald asks, is this man fit to pass judgement on the most important cases in Australias High Court?
