Friday, May 31, 2013

Stewart Brand On Deextinction Live

Stewart Brand gave the keynote address at the May 31, 2013, Stanford Law School conference De-Extinction: Ethics, Law & Politics.  Host Hank Greely introduced him as "the charismatic megafauna of
de-extinction." Here are some highlights of what Brand said:
On the successful approach to deextinction: "This is an evidence-based, time-driven approach to looking at this things."
On anticipated public reaction to deextinction: "You know that every birdwatcher with a lifelist will want to see a passenger pigeon."
On extinction causes: "[Many] of the animals that went extinct were hunted to death."
On nature: "The cane toad story [is] so widespread, that most people believe that nature is fragile."
On celebrating deextinction successes: "When things turn out not to be a problem, everyone knows."
On strategy for making deextinction a success: "Move the public discourse with the reality through time."
On conservation biology: "Conservation biologists keep shocking me with the amount of gardening conservation biology requires."
On an objective of deextinction: "We're trying to stop unmaking the world."
As Greely suggested, Brand is a very inspiring figure.