This weekend’s New York Times Magazine includes a story by Jon Gertner visiting with Bill Joy. From grey goo to bird flu, it’s all in here.

Like him or not, Joy is on the forefront of several important science policy questions.
- Should, or even can, limits be placed on where we take science?
- What roles should scientists, busnesses, trade associations, and government have in preventing “bad outcomes”?

Here are some quotes of interest…

“Making us think about potential ”bad outcomes” is his goal; scaring the hell out of us is not.”

” ‘The Greeks knew better,’ Joy says. ‘Oedipus was destroyed by truth. He looked like he had a happy life until he learned one too many things. That’s the cautionary tale.’ ”

“He’s not exactly optimistic, predicting that public awareness will most likely come only after an actual accident at a company or a university. Until then, he says, speed — the mad rush for patents and market share and money — will trump caution. Regulatory agencies are structured to catch shady C.F.O.’s, not reckless private-sector technologists. And markets are ill equipped to play traffic cop. ‘Markets are extremely good at go,’ Joy says. ‘They’re not very good at stop. And I think we need a little bit of stop right now. Or else we’re not going to like the outcome.’”

“He is likewise sure that the financial markets do not acknowledge the true hazards of certain kinds of science. To Joy this is a hugely important point. He isn’t keen on regulation, since he considers it far less effective than market forces. (A millionaire many times over from his shares in Sun and other tech start-ups, Joy knows the fruits of the market firsthand.) Yet he does think we now need to ”manage” the system somewhat. He says he believes that businesses doing research in areas deemed risky by their peers should be forced to take out insurance against catastrophes. He also says that science guilds should have the authority to limit access to potentially dangerous ideas.”