Threats?

I am not sure how I feel about the pop-up I received from the Norton Anti-Virus software today, not that I don't get one every month.  The stats included:  62,987 Known Threats & 5,394 Known Attacks

I don't even know how to think about that, or "that many" threats all simply associated with my computer.  It prompted me to think about a variety of threats (not including the lava that has so preoccupied our awareness for the last few months here in Pahoa, Hawaii.)  So I pulled up a "top 10" list of threats from the Huffington Post from 10/27/2010, and was surprised to find some of my"personal favorites" missing.

• Bio-Engineered Terrorism*
• Solar Flare/EM Pulse/Cyber Collapse*
• Nanotechnology* (my personal favorite)
• Climate Change
• Artificial Intelligence* (smart software)

*Even though I read Science Fiction regularly (as indicated by my additional threats,) it is interesting to me is how little time I actually pend thinking about any of them -- as actual threats.    Things change; shit happens.  The recent hurricanes and lava have presented us all with a chance to look at how little control we have in our lives, and how much our attitude affects the final outcome.

Or, in the words from two of my all-time favorite SF books/movies:

"Live in fear - be a slave." (from "Blade Runner")

"Fear is the little death; fear is the mind killer." (from "Dune)

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