26 Asteroid Impacts On Earth? SINCE 2000????

[NERVAfan]

non-organic infected beef

Wait what does organic have to do with it? What would antibiotics etc. have to do with prions?

[vger]

The Tunguska event predated the Soviet Union.

While true the odds are in our favor, the amount of money required to send up B612's near-Earth asteroid surveying telescope is negligible compared to the even slight risk of economic devastation of an asteroid hitting a city or wiping out mankind. At $450 million, that's just $0.06 per human or if were funded by the US Government (which it isn't), would be $1.50 per American.

Interesting thought now though, I wonder at what point they would decide deflecting the asteroid is worth it?

We still don't seem to be capable of exactly where an asteroid will pass, so it's highly unlikely we could predict where one would impact. If it WASN'T a global disaster sized rock, but is still big enough to wipe a city, would we bother trying to deflect it at all? After all, people can still bicker that the odds are in our favor that it won't strike land, but then if it DOES hit a city, and everyone knows that it was being tracked? Oh, the PR nightmare.

[Beowolf]

how much have you done againt climate change? Against fossile fuels? Exploitation of Africa?

Let's see...

We pay extra for carbon offsets for the cars.

We pay extra so all our electricity comes from wind and nuclear.

My wife spent 2 months building a school in Uganda in 2012. I'm disabled so stayed home.

I first became concerned about asteroid impacts in the early 1980s but until just recently that was a totally crackpot idea nobody took seriously.

SOME people do indeed care. Try to stay hopeful. Sure everyone talks like our civilization and planet are going right down the toilet. But in my 54 years, the conditions most of humanity lives in have improved... A LOT!!! Yes there are a billion starving people. But there were nearly a billion starving when I was a kid when global population was under 4 billion. We're successfully feeding an additional 3 billion people just in my life. Plus, now we know that population growth naturally slows down as more of us live in cities. When I was young, Malthusian population growth was going to kill us all if global nuclear war didn't. Humanity BEAT both those problems, and I'm quite optimistic about our future.

And OMG the air and water quality! Ever seen comparison pix of a US city during the 60s vs now? Take a look at Los Angeles:

http://cires.colorado.edu/news/press/2013/images/LA.jpg

Cheers!

Edited April 25, 2014 by Beowolf

[Doozler]

Nerva: It's not "organic" per se, but "non-factory-farmed in the eightes" that's relevant. A lot of cows were fed ground up cow in those days. Organic is one way to ensure you're not eating "canibal cow"

[78stonewobble]

Regarding dementia and other late life diseases... I just don't think the human body was in any way "built" with longevity in mind. Not much beyond the point of small chance of procreation.

Regarding large asteroids/comets/dwarfplanets/ungodly marbles hitting the earth. I think that is the greatest threat to the survival of humanity and life there is. Granted the chance is small, but if it happens we loose everything.

Global warming... If it's not "so bad", beyond killing the 125 mio. we're allready guessing it will cost, then it's insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Obviously it still sucks and we should try to minimise the damage and cost of lives... but still... not a threat of survivability, but a threat of quality of life.

If global warming on the other hand is a threat that can end up killing us all? The run away scenario discussed in another section. Then I believe we'll be unable to change it anyway, atleast much less easily than deflecting a large asteroid.

[DJEN]

Well a foundation needs to be funded.

If people aren´t afraid of asteroids, they won´t spend money for defense against them.

Not saying it´s not a real threat.

But.....

how much have you done againt climate change? Against fossile fuels? Exploitation of Africa?

See? People don´t even care about problems just 100s of kilometers away, much less stuff that might be AUs away.

We are animals, after all.

[vger]

Let's see...

We pay extra for carbon offsets for the cars.

We pay extra so all our electricity comes from wind and nuclear.

My wife spent 2 months building a school in Uganda in 2012. I'm disabled so stayed home.

I first became concerned about asteroid impacts in the early 1980s but until just recently that was a totally crackpot idea nobody took seriously.

SOME people do indeed care. Try to stay hopeful.

My gut tells me though, that we won't get anywhere unless we can all unanimously decide that there are some things more important than profit. It's the greed that's holding everyone back. Even a CEO, if he wants to be the good guy, risks being hung by the shareholders if he/she does ANYTHING besides maximize profit.

[NERVAfan]

Nerva: It's not "organic" per se, but "non-factory-farmed in the eightes" that's relevant. A lot of cows were fed ground up cow in those days. Organic is one way to ensure you're not eating "canibal cow"

Ah ok, that makes more sense with what I've read about mad cow/BSE.