> bioengineered E. coli or whatever, which you're hoping evolution will make work even more efficiently, leaves your carbon-sequestering vats and starts reproducing in the wild? Eventually you reach a point where we're getting record low CO2 levels.
Normally, if you want to create something like this, it's an auxotroph. So it shouldn't survive outside of the carbon-sequestering vat.
Or it's all on a plasmid, so once it's out of the vat plasmid won't be maintained.
Or these will be created in "Synells" [0] that can't really replicate.
Though that's a really interesting thought. If we find a technology to do anything about CO2 levels, it seems plausible that we're going to accidentally go too far in the other direction.
Normally, if you want to create something like this, it's an auxotroph. So it shouldn't survive outside of the carbon-sequestering vat.
Or it's all on a plasmid, so once it's out of the vat plasmid won't be maintained.
Or these will be created in "Synells" [0] that can't really replicate.
Though that's a really interesting thought. If we find a technology to do anything about CO2 levels, it seems plausible that we're going to accidentally go too far in the other direction.
[0] http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nchem...