Jamie Metzl, a prominent early advocate for investigating a possible laboratory origin of COVID-19, told a Cayman audience this week that the same scientific tools that are giving humans “almost godlike powers” are now accelerating change at a pace few are prepared for and will touch each person in a unique way.
In his keynote address at the RF Economic Outlook conference on 11 Feb. at Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, Metzl warned that artificial intelligence and biotechnology are converging in ways that will reshape economies, healthcare systems and governance models worldwide.
“What will determine whether this is the most wonderful story in our history or perhaps the most terrible is whether we can learn to use our almost godlike powers wisely. And if we do, an incredible future will unfold for us,” he said.
Metzl, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and former US National Security Council official, was one of the early public voices calling for deeper scrutiny of a potential research-related origin of COVID-19, earning him the title of the ‘original COVID-19 whistleblower’. He was a key witness in the US congressional hearings on the issue.
In Cayman, however, his focus was not on revisiting the pandemic, but on what he described as a broader technological turning point. After flying in from what he described as “unprecedented” snow and cold in New York, Metzl said, that like periods preceding revolutionary change, Cayman’s calm ocean surface can be deceptive in...
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