[This show first aired February 11, 2008.]

When risk is irrational: The EU is banning GM food.Recycling is important for the environment. But if the United States tried to adopt a system as onerous as the system in Sweden, there'd be the risk of a backlash. Phil recommends recycling our waste to make fuel.When making fuel, particularly ethanol, we have to beware the risk of unintended consequences. This week we learned that using food to make ethanol pushes corn production to places like Brazil where rain forests are slashed and burned. Counting that, the study argues, more carbon is released with corn ethanol than gasoline.Gilgamesh was said to be 2/3rds devine, 1/3 human. Phil wondered how that parentage was possible. Well, now its possible for embryos to come from 3 or any number of parents. What are the risks of designer babies? To the baby? To society?Existential risk - the various risks that our species could be wiped out.Stephen considered existential risks awhile back and thinks unfriendly AI might be the biggest risk.