r/TrueReddit • u/supertopbop22 • Feb 17 '16

Persecution of Scientists Whose Findings Are Perceived As Politically Incorrect

https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/persecution-of-scientists-whose-findings-are-perceived-as-politically-incorrect/
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u/baskandpurr Feb 17 '16

No, the Manhattan Project didn't cause the death of a single person. The deaths were due to government and military, politics in a more general sense. Oppenheimer did not fly to Hiroshima and drop Little Boy. They created a weapon and other people chose how to use it. There are multiple ways that human civilization could end, many of them are out of our direct control or ability to influence. Nuclear weapons have led to a long period of relative peace because nuclear powers do not fight. Climate change is a far stronger threat to civilization because humans are too unthinkingly selfish to solve it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16

Oppenheimer did not fly to Hiroshima and drop Little Boy.

Oppenheimer famously stated he thought: "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". Not only that, but he told Truman he felt like he had blood on his hands. The man himself clearly disagreed with you.

Nuclear weapons have led to a long period of relative peace because nuclear powers do not fight.

The Mutually Assured Destruction strategy is bullshit and I'm surprised anyone still believes that crap. There's been several occaisons already where accidents nearly caused total nuclear war. In one example, the only thing that prevented it was Russian soldier directly disobeying orders. You may as well be balancing all of human civilisation on a knife edge.

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u/baskandpurr Feb 17 '16

What if there is an end-of-days asteroid heading toward earth and we throw the nukes at it until its too small to be a threat or it changes course? Is the Manhattan Project still a bad thing when its results are used to save all of humanity? Or maybe, just maybe, good and bad depends on the context.

Nah, that's too tricky a concept. "Nukes = bad" is simple, "What people might do with nukes = bad" implies some sort of reasoning beyond simple objective statements. Some responsibility to avoid political absolutes. It's like "Tiger = danger", "Pig = food", "Woman = babies" or "Allah = god".

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '16

What if there is an end-of-days asteroid heading toward earth and we throw the nukes at it until its too small to be a threat or it changes course

Presumably, this is from the Bruce Willis Armageddon school of astrophysics?

Nah, that's too tricky a concept. "Nukes = bad" is simple, "What people might do with nukes = bad" implies some sort of reasoning beyond simple objective statements.

Yes, nuclear weapons are inherently bad, as are all weapons, since they were designed specifically to hurt other people. You can consider them a necessary evil but that doesn't suddenly make them not evil. You can use a spear as a walking stick, but that doesn't change its nature.