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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.
既然他們基于與自然合成物相同的碳化學工業的基本模式，這些新的物質往往被認為屬于生物化學流程。因此他們就對有生命物質發揮了一種暗中為害的作用。事實上，石油化學制品工業生產出的物質就像貌似人類卻極其危險的外星人入侵人類社會一樣狡猾地進入生命化學并對其進行攻擊。
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，有必要從失敗的后果上對生態圈和技術圈進行比較。在生態圈里，人們用“沒有免費的午餐”來表達這一點，意思是說，任何對生態圈的扭曲，或者是不相容成分的侵入（比如說有毒化學物），都會不可避免地導致惡果。乍一看來，技術圈好像完全沒有錯誤，也就是說技術進程或產品的失敗并非源于某種不可預料的事故，而是由于無法做到預期中的事。幾乎每種現代技術都有缺陷，但這種缺陷看起來不是無法完成預期目的的失敗，而是其對環境的嚴重影響。汽車總能照常行駛，但它卻產生煙霧；電站能有效地發電，卻會釋放出危險的污染物；現代化學農業卓有成效，但隨之而來的硝酸鹽污染了地下水，殺蟲劑危害了野生動物和人類。即使發生在三里島和切爾諾貝利的巨大的核災難相對于其所造成的生態影響來說，也只是一個并不太嚴重的技術失敗。
