I can empathize with (part) of your reservations. Others, as you pointed out may be a tad paranoid, and others are simply unfounded, and disregard advancements in general.

Nowhere did I say magic. I said I like the enhanced properties. It’s completely logical to expect enhancements. Progress is littered with unfortunate developments. It’s a price we pay for advancements, but if you assume that by default, advancements are bad, we might as well all just stop breathing and die.

I could spend the next few months listing initial advances or improvements thereof, that are unquestionably good. PLA is such an example, as are other bioplastics, vaccines, seat belts and air bags, air source heat pumps, most renewable energy generation (or rather extraction) methods, BPA free, easily recyclable plastics, like PET, long distance communications both voice and data, accessible long distance travel, fucking tools and fire! And so many more advancements.

Of course there are things like lead in gas, or the systematic attack to efficient mass transport in the US, leaded paint, use of asbestos, hydrocarbon fuels, massively toxic pesticides, PFOAS, Ford Pintos and the corporate decisions behind them, etc.

But the balance I think is positive, and contrary to what many scream, we humans tend to try to redress the harms we cause.

Assertions like “We live in primitive times where biology is only in a precursor stage of discovery and poorly understood.” when we can literally fucking manipulate DNA, is just plain ignorant.

You seem to imply that all advancements are dangerous, or evil. Not so. It may be two steps forward, one back, but we go forward.

BTW, I hope you are making that popcorn from corn you planted from heirloom seeds, and extra virgin olive oil, in a solar oven, else you are probably going to be eating GMO, cooked in fucked-up fats, while breathing fumes from burned hydrocarbons, or being subjected to one of many forms of radiation, etc.