"But Jay Melosh, an impact crater expert at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, doubts the strike was so recent. Statistically, impacts the size of Hiawatha occur only every few million years, he says, and so the chance of one just 13,000 years ago is small."
Pay special attention to that idea. This guy is drawing a line in the sand, offering an opinion based on statistical probability alone... on a topic that has grave implications for our kind -- because with space travel and weapons technology we have been in a position to DO something about the threat -- and we have so far done NOTHING.
He is just a gambler, engaged in the most dangerous "gambler's fallacy" of all. It is a mental disorder just as surely as any homeless compulsive gambler, and his disorder affects others. And there are many like him. Try this one:
There we have someone telling children that asteroids are nothing to worry about, because.... we have this statistical engine of perfect clockwork and big rocks only fall according to our statistical 'timetable', and none are 'scheduled' for next week. And he goes on to imply that we should accept the idea of extinction (despite being technologically advanced) as a stress reliever. It's an insidious way of thinking. People do it out of angst too. They'll take a dark view of humankind as if the planet would be better off without us, completely ignoring the concept that if we could defend the planet we would be protecting all life on it.
"But Jay Melosh, an impact crater expert at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, doubts the strike was so recent. Statistically, impacts the size of Hiawatha occur only every few million years, he says, and so the chance of one just 13,000 years ago is small."
Pay special attention to that idea. This guy is drawing a line in the sand, offering an opinion based on statistical probability alone... on a topic that has grave implications for our kind -- because with space travel and weapons technology we have been in a position to DO something about the threat -- and we have so far done NOTHING.
He is just a gambler, engaged in the most dangerous "gambler's fallacy" of all. It is a mental disorder just as surely as any homeless compulsive gambler, and his disorder affects others. And there are many like him. Try this one:
https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/throwback-thursday-are...
There we have someone telling children that asteroids are nothing to worry about, because.... we have this statistical engine of perfect clockwork and big rocks only fall according to our statistical 'timetable', and none are 'scheduled' for next week. And he goes on to imply that we should accept the idea of extinction (despite being technologically advanced) as a stress reliever. It's an insidious way of thinking. People do it out of angst too. They'll take a dark view of humankind as if the planet would be better off without us, completely ignoring the concept that if we could defend the planet we would be protecting all life on it.
It's one of the issues I write letters about,
https://www.scribd.com/document/374712301/20180227-David-L-G...