11. Trading off a "slight" risk to humanity for some perceived benefit

There may be scientists who feel that it is worth developing powerful Artificial Intelligence without adequate safeguards because there is only a “small risk” that it will get out of control and threaten the human species. Or, some other advance, in the area of weapons research or biotechnology may emit the same siren song. Alfred Nobel justified the invention of dynamite with the notion that it would end all war. Instead, dynamite greatly increased the killing power of weapons and indirectly contributed to the most lethal century in the history of mankind.