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Since they are based on the same fundamental patterns of carbon chemistry as the natural compounds, the new ones are often readily accepted into biochemical processes. They therefore can play an insidious, destructive role in living things. In effect, the petrochemical industry produces substances that-like the fantasies of human society invaded by look-alike but dangerous aliens-cunningly enter the chemistry of life, and attack it.
既然他们基于与自然合成物相同的碳化学工业的基本模式，这些新的物质往往被认为属于生物化学流程。因此他们就对有生命物质发挥了一种暗中为害的作用。事实上，石油化学制品工业生产出的物质就像貌似人类却极其危险的外星人入侵人类社会一样狡猾地进入生命化学并对其进行攻击。
Finally, it is useful to compare the ecosphere and the technosphere with respect to the consequences of failure. In the ecosphere, this is expressed by the idea that "there is no such thing as a free lunch,"meaning that any distortion of an ecological cycle, or the intrusion of an incompatible component (such as a toxic chemical), leads unavoidably to harmful effects. At first glance, the technosphere appears to be extraordinarily free of mistakes-that is, a technological process or product that failed not because of some unanticipated accident but because it was unable to do what it was designed to do. Yet nearly every modern technology has grave faults, which appear not as a failure to accomplish its designed purpose but as a serious impact on the environment Cars usually run very well, but produce smogi power plants efficiently generate electricity, but also emit dangerous pollutants; modern chemical farming is very productive but contaminates groundwater with nitrate and wildlife and people with pesticides. Even the spectacular nuclear disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl were far less serious as technical failures than they were in their ecological effects.
最后，有必要从失败的后果上对生态圈和技术圈进行比较。在生态圈里，人们用“没有免费的午餐”来表达这一点，意思是说，任何对生态圈的扭曲，或者是不相容成分的侵入（比如说有毒化学物），都会不可避免地导致恶果。乍一看来，技术圈好像完全没有错误，也就是说技术进程或产品的失败并非源于某种不可预料的事故，而是由于无法做到预期中的事。几乎每种现代技术都有缺陷，但这种缺陷看起来不是无法完成预期目的的失败，而是其对环境的严重影响。汽车总能照常行驶，但它却产生烟雾；电站能有效地发电，却会释放出危险的污染物；现代化学农业卓有成效，但随之而来的硝酸盐污染了地下水，杀虫剂危害了野生动物和人类。即使发生在三里岛和切尔诺贝利的巨大的核灾难相对于其所造成的生态影响来说，也只是一个并不太严重的技术失败。
