Category Archives: Technology and Society

Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Space Science, Technology and Society

Have We Finally Gotten Congress’s Attention?

5 Comments

Lamar Smith:

“Fifty years ago, we would have had no way of seeing an asteroid like this coming. Now, thanks to the discoveries NASA has made in its short history, we have known about 2012 DA14 for about a year. As the world leader in space exploration, America has made great progress for mankind,” Smith continued. “But our work is not done. We should continue to study, research, and explore space to better understand our universe and better protect our planet.”

The chairman announced a hearing in the coming weeks to examine ways to better identify and address asteroids that pose a potential threat to Earth.

I hope they have Ed Lu testify.

[Update a while later]

Jeff Foust has more.

Business, Social Commentary, Technology and Society, Weird

Strange Spam Du Jour

2 Comments

I just go this from the UK, subject, “Contract Dispute”:

Attention:

We seek an attorney who handles breach of contract matters.Let us know if
your firm takes such cases.

Thank you
Edward Scholes.

No attachment, no web site to click through, nothing, but it has a return address and a reply-to of someone with that name. What is the purpose of this?

I guess one (bizarre) possibility is that it’s exactly what it would appear to be — someone looking for an attorney, and spamming the Internet to find one. It’s not like it costs anything. But you might get a lot more responses, many of them scams themselves, than you know what to do with.

Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Technology and Society

The Russian Asteroid Strike

14 Comments

I just woke up to the news. I’ve heard some people say it’s not related to the flyby today, but that seems like a remarkable coincidence. Are they both part of a cluster, which could mean that there is potential for more hits, or do they know this one came from an entirely different direction?

Related: what would happen if Tonguska hit New York City?

Oh, this Guardian article says that ESA has ruled out a relationship. I’d still like to know on what basis. It’s also claiming almost a thousand people injured (but no reports of deaths yet, fortunately). I guess it will get sorted out later today.

And this is a good reminder to support the B612 Foundation, because I expect the government to continue to dither, even with these stark reminders.

[Update a couple minutes later]

OK, I see that people had already started to discuss this in comments at yesterday’s post before I was awake.

[Update a few minutes later]

Jorge Frank (who was one of the reviewers of my book when I was drafting it) says that it’s too soon to say.

[Update a few more minutes later]

OK, now Don Yeoman is saying that it’s unrelated:

Yeoman stressed that the bolide event was likely not associated at all with the incoming asteroid 2012 DA14, which will fly within 17,200 miles (27,000 kilometers) of Earth when it passes safely by our planet today.

“The asteroid will travel south to north,” Yeomans said. “The bolide trail was not south to north and the separation in time between the fireball and 2012 DA14 close approach is significant.”

I think the jury’s still out, for reasons that Jorge notes. Yes, they’re far from each other, given the time and velocity, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not part of a cluster that were once a single object, that have spread out from perturbations over the eons.

Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

The Search For Consciousness

4 Comments

As this article shows, we know a lot less about the human mind than we should (even during the Terri Schiavo case, I wasn’t a hundred percent convinced that there was no one home). As the article notes, these are the forgotten people that society doesn’t want to deal with. I know that being locked in is one my biggest fears, infinitely worse than a jail sentence. If technology can open up lines of communication, that would be a huge breakthrough.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Technology and Society

From The Asteroid Hunters

33 Comments

A warning:

The chance of another Tunguska-size impact somewhere on Earth this century is about 30%. That isn’t the likelihood that you will be killed by an asteroid, but rather the odds that you will read a news headline about an asteroid impact of this size somewhere on Earth. Unfortunately, that headline could be about the destruction of a city, as opposed to an unpopulated region of Siberia.

The chance in your lifetime of an even bigger asteroid impact on Earth—with explosive energy of 100 megatons of TNT—is about 1%. Such an impact would deliver many times the explosive energy of all the munitions used in World War II, including the atomic bombs. This risk to humanity is similar to an individual’s odds of dying in a car accident. That risk is small, but would you drive a car without air bags and seat belts? The question is apt because our society is effectively doing so with regard to the risk of a devastating asteroid strike.

I’ve been concerned about this for years (actually decades, ever since Alvarez first came up with his dinosaur theory, which seems to have been recently confirmed).

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Technology and Society

Solar Geoengineering

10 Comments

A quick and easy way to stop global warming?

It would certainly be cheaper than carbon reduction, but it’s not clear if it would work, or what the other side effects might be. And of course, if it’s even necessary.

But if it really is a problem, schemes like this, or space-based ones, make a lot more sense than screwing up the global economy.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

Gun Control, Mental Health And Public Safety

6 Comments

A requested letter to Ted Cruz:

The United States is at something of a crossroads here: we can remain focused on gun control, or we can look at the root cause of not only the random acts of mass murder, but many other serious social maladies. The deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill has played a destructive role not only with respect to crime, but also with the degradation of urban life, and with the barbarous degradation of mentally ill people, who are a large fraction of the homeless in our country.[11]

Deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill is the root cause of most of these shocking acts of mass murder, and the much more common but less publicized murders that happen every day in America, which very seldom involve high-capacity magazines or scary looking black rifles.

Pretending that gun control is going to have much of an impact on this is like putting a Band-Aid on an arm with a severed artery. It is only a short-term solution, because it covers up a deeper problem. It is time to recognize and solve the root problem.

Gun control isn’t about guns, or public safety. It’s about control.

[Update later morning]

Randy Barnett has a letter for Ted, too, as does Dave Kopel.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

Thoughts On Gun Control

Too much common sense from Robert Levy, so the politicians won’t pay any attention.

[Update a couple minutes later]

The public disapproves of Obama’s gun policies by 54-42%. Actually, they seem to disapprove of almost all of his policies. Think in particular about the 2-1 opposition to his deficit policy as he spouts his lies tonight. There was no majority who voted for Barack Obama. Those who put him over the top were voting against the demon Romney, per the Obama campaign strategy.

[Update a few minutes later]

This seems related: the war on drugs, overcriminalization and militarized police raids.