total descendants::17 total children::2 |
EXTREME RISK INITIATIVE—NYU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING WORKING PAPER SERIES The Precautionary Principle (with Application to the Genetic Modification of Organisms) Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Rupert Read, Raphael Douady, Joseph Norman,Yaneer Bar-Yam School of Engineering, New York University New England Complex Systems Institute Institute of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, C.N.R.S., Paris School of Philosophy, University of East Anglia http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/pp2.pdf Abstract —The precautionary principle (PP) states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing severe harm to the public domain (affecting general health or the environment globally), the action should not be taken in the absence of scientific near-certainty about its safety. Under these conditions, the burden of proof about absence of harm falls on those proposing an action, not those opposing it. PP is intended to deal with uncertainty and risk in cases where the absence of evidence and the incompleteness of scientific knowledge carries profound implications and in the presence of risks of "black swans", unforeseen and unforeseable events of extreme consequence. |
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