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monkspider
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banned
Aug 2001
time: 23:26
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http://news.independent.co.uk/world...sp?story=378392
Armageddon asteroids 'best kept secret'
15 February 2003
A scientific adviser to the United States government has suggested that secrecy might be the best option if scientists were ever to discover that a giant asteroid was on course to collide with Earth.
In certain circumstances, nothing could be done to avoid such a collision and ensuing destruction, and it would be best not to tell the public anything, said Geoffrey Sommer, of the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California.
"When a problem arises with high uncertainty, there is an opportunity to spin the problem to avoid global panic. If you can't do anything about a warning, then there is no point in issuing a warning at all," Dr Sommer told the association yesterday.
"If an extinction-type impact is inevitable, then ignorance for the populace is bliss. As a matter of common sense, if you can't intercept it and you can't move people out of the way in time, there's nothing you can do in terms of reducing the costs of the potential impact," he said.
"Overreaction not just by the public but by policy-makers scurrying around before the thing actually hits because we can't do anything about it anyway ... to a large extent you are better off not adding to your social costs," said Dr Sommer, who is also an adviser on terrorism.
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) is conducting a 25-year survey of the sky to find asteroids wider than a kilometre which could have a devastating impact if they collided with Earth.
So far they have determined the orbits of about 60 per cent of these objects and none so far have a trajectory that threatens the world within the next couple of centuries, said David Morrison of Nasa's Ames laboratory in Moffat Field, California.
"There are, however, many things out there that we know nothing about," he said.
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Do you agree with this policy? Is this nothing more than a thinly veiled threat to punish Iraq dissenters? Could a giant Meteor be enough to break up the sharply divided NATO?
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Main_Brain
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Economic World Center
Jul 2002
time: 06:26
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Anarchy, Plunder , Murder, Rape, Failure of State/Electricity/water Supply because noone works..
Yes I see the point of not telling, dont know wheter thats good/bad though.
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:26
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There are lots of crazy people who are behaving themselves out of fear of civil authority and punishment. If a death penalty is inevitable then every crackpot with a knife or gun is going to go out raping and murdering to their fullest. Do you expect law enforcement to continue in their jobs? Prison guards? They will want to spend their last days with family and to hell with the world. Many people will spend their last days in absolute terror, because of the violent reactions of others, if the world is informed.
No, this is totally different from not telling a patient of terminal cancer...
I'm not saying that I wouldn't inform the world, just that there is alot to the decision that should be considered.
Should we execute all those convicted of violent crime before the announcement? Dwell on that...
Sure, I would want some time to pray...
There's alot to consider.
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:26
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Stefu, it's more of a cosmic screwing...
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Apolyton Time is 00:26. |
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17-02-2003 08:10
Attachment: 
. Of course he sold those... 
It passed within 75,000 miles of earth and they did not realize it until after it passed by. 
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