Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site mnetor.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcsri!utcs!mnetor!fred From: fred@mnetor.UUCP Newsgroups: can.general,can.ai Subject: Re: Re: Star Wars Message-ID: <371@mnetor.UUCP> Date: Tue, 2-Apr-85 09:34:28 EST Article-I.D.: mnetor.371 Posted: Tue Apr 2 09:34:28 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 2-Apr-85 10:28:40 EST References: <897@ubc-vision.CDN> <5392@utzoo.UUCP> Organization: Computer X (CANADA) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada Lines: 38 > > 30 minutes is a long time, even for human reactions. If you read a > detailed and unbiased account of the events, such as the special issue > of IEEE Spectrum on the TMI disaster, you will discover that there was > never any serious danger of widespread disaster. There were fears > aplenty at the time, but in hindsight (although ONLY in hindsight) they > were quite unjustified. > > > Please, if we are going to debate SDI, let us debate on the basis of > facts, not uninformed hysteria. > -- It is a fact that in the 24 hours after the TMI incident there were no less than 7 official explanations... all different! Now that all the administrators involved have had time to get together and decide on a good story it is next to impossible for anyone to ever find out what really happened. It is not surprising that the story now given shows no cause for fear. At the same time I would like to say that life has never been safe on this planet. We only have different things to watch out for. Radioactive materials are a relatively new danger, and the real problem is that most people don't know how to handle them. This unfortunately includes some of the people that are supposed to handle them. Like any other group of people, the military has good and not so good people involved with it. What bothers me is their tendancy to follow set rules rather than think. True, it is often more "safe" to stay within a framework of regulations, but somehow I would feel better if decisions about nuclear weapons and even peaceful nuclear enterprises were made by poets. I know a few, and these people really think about their decisions, and about life. I could go on for pages, but in the interests of you, who have to wade through this, I'll stop here. Cheers, Fred Williams