Of course no one can predict the future perfectly, but we can at least think about it with some degree of accuracy based on tests and trials.
As our technology is becoming so much more powerful and evolving at exponential rates, don't you think it might be a good idea to think a little harder about the how things could backfire?
At the extreme, there are all kinds of evil ideas that are technically possible but not widely implemented. This can be seen by how easy terrorism is compared to how infrequently it is carried out.
I'd rather not list out a bunch of evil ideas, but I think any engineer with a bit of thought can come up with plenty.
> I think any engineer with a bit of thought can come up with plenty
I think you're arguing the article's point. Many knowledgeable people can come up with dangerous things. Many people have bad intentions. Luckily for society, there often isn't much overlap of those two groups.
This paper is saying "Hey people who have ideas, don't just think through the technical idea you have. Think of how someone with negative intent might be able to leverage this idea to easily do something they couldn't do before. Or even how it could unintentionally happen."
As our technology is becoming so much more powerful and evolving at exponential rates, don't you think it might be a good idea to think a little harder about the how things could backfire?