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Science and the rest - opinion!
OPINION - Delete if you like!
Just my two cents:
While I practice science, to a small degree, as a profession and consider it
the clearest lens for seeing into the reality of our universe, most people
do not, in my opinion. Science, for many people, is hard and mysterious and
often indecipherable - I have a hell of a time explaining to my wife why we
can see into the past when we look at stars (or at anything, for that
matter), for example. Most scientific developments first meet with
scepticism and ridicule - ask Galileo and Einstein. Sometimes people just
believe what they want to, maybe because in other areas of their life, this
is an acceptable way of things (like choosing a religion or philosophy of
life or what charity to donate to).
I'm not a great scientist or talker - I won't spend the effort to try to
convince others of much of anything if they put up an argument; who knows, I
could be wrong. And I just accept that there will always be "opponents" of
any controversial scientific idea, and they will often have more influence
than the scientists, maybe because the movers and shakers are rarely of a
scientific bent; kind of an "us versus them" things all too often, I'm
afraid.
And to be fair, an elected official is supposed to be the voice of the
people - if most of the people can't get the concept, whatever it is, the
politician/civil servant who does is suddenly in the minority, and may lose
his/her job because of it, if a difficult, unpopular choice/policy must be
made/established. Would you risk your job? I'm not sure I would -
scientific and technical accuracy just aren't the only games being played in
the world. Scientific accuracy does not necessarily connote "rightness" in
a situation. This certainly isn't an excuse for some of the silly positions
our field is put in by law-makers, but I understand how it happens and that
I can't dot every i and cross every t. In the big picture, rad safety is
usually small potatoes, and well it should be. We're lucky that when it
does matter, we have science to back us up and tell us what is right - many
professions are without this luxury.
Opposing views are eagerly anticipated - save the flames for expaining
phlogiston. (Spelling comments are invited).
Scott Hudson
scott.hudson@cpe.amedd.army.mil
-----Original Message-----
From: Eduardo Mendez III [mailto:emendez@vt.edu]
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2000 1:32 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: "Anti-Nukes"
first, so i may properly identify myself, and it's understood which side of
the fence i'm on... i have previous experience as a rad safety tech here at
the virginia tech RSO, and am currently a grad student studying, in a
nutshell, the natural attenuation of rad waste in the subsurface. i guess
that classifies me as a 'non-anti'.
the continued dialog between radsafers and, shall i say 'non-believers',
has prompted my first post to the list. please help me with my
questions/concerns. i am all too aware of the science vs. emotion trend
that has been played out in the previous dialogs. it's sad that good
science can be so easily ignored. i see (read) such good, logical
communication on our part to the list visitors; unfortunately to no affect.
to what extent does this dialog go beyond radsafe to where it really
matters? they are the ones spreading the same emotionally-biased,
scientific nonsense all over the place; media, uneducated (in the matter of
concern) public, any type of organization that will listen (fund/donate),
etc. does our point get trapped in the radsafe vacuum. what do we have as
a defense against this nonsense, that operates in the same efficient manner
as they do? something beyond technical government and academic
publications which the general public has no interest in. how about even
distributing these same dialogs that have been presented on radsafe to the
PIs/adiministrators/funders of the TFP, the media, and good ol' brinkley
and baldwin. has something of this sort been done for the TFP(insert any
other anti-nuke propaganda here)? who do we have to represent us on the
front that they fight? i know we all have 'real' jobs that make it
difficult to play the same games they play, but i sure would be able to
sleep better at night if i knew we had someone on our side, or could we
could at least stoop to their level.
PS- don't get me wrong, i'm all for saving the world; but let us think
before we act.
_________________________________________________________________________
Eduardo Mendez III
Graduate Research Assistant
The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0105
email emendez@vt.edu
ph 540.231.3913
fax 540.231.7532
_________________________________________________________________________
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information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html