Very interesting article. I believe that all advancements regarding technology are two fold. On on side stand the idealists who want to use all applied sciences' research products for the progress of society and on the other side,the side that somehow always prevails, are those who want to use them for their own agendas that are rarely beneficial for the masses.
I think this quote from Agent Smith regarding our race, although exaggerated and far fetched, undeniably offers some fragments of truth...
'I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure. '