So if people think the earth is flat, mapmakers
should reinforce that belief in order to sell more maps, even though they
know better???? That would be unethical. There should be more to human
existence than clinging on to one's job at all cost. If a mapmaker can't
get rich and be honest at the same time, he should resign to staying poor or
he should look for a new job.
As mapmakers (professionals), we have the
responsibility to produce accurate information. If the public is not ready for
the truth and we can't sell any maps (NPPs, Yucca ...) at this time, so be it.
If we do anything else, we will loose credibility for when the
public becomes ready for the truth.
IMHO, one of the worst mistakes the nuclear
industry ever made was to try to balance the anti-nuclear nutcases with its
own nutcases (PR people talking about subjects they knew nothing about). By
doing that, the industry has lost the support of a sizeable proportion of
mainstream scientists and engineers, because the industry is seen as lacking
substance.
(Clarification: When I refer to "anti-nuclear
nutcases", I mean a small minority of anti-nukes. I have nothing but respect
for most of our local (Saskatoon) anti-nukes. They are ethical, concerned
people who try to understand the issues. (They don't come to the same
conclusions as I and that's OK.) The nutcases that I refer to are the ones
that have to be flown in from the US or eastern Canada. These are the ones
that do not try to understand the issues and have made a career out of
spreading misinformation.)
Kai
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 6:29
AM
Subject: Re: NIMBY for Nevada
residents
For better or worse, politicians, voters, and homebuyers
don't have to pass your "reality test." The decisions they make are
the reality we have to live with. (If most people think the world's
flat, the map makers better comply if they want to stay in business.)
It's called democracry; just deal with it.
The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's
about trust.
Curies forever.
Bill Lipton
liptonw@dteenergy.com
RuthWeiner@aol.com wrote:
In a message dated 3/8/02 2:24:09 PM Mountain
Standard Time, liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM writes:
Perception is reality; just deal with
it.
No, it isn't (I
actually have an editorial in Risk Analysis on this topic). Instead
of bombarding the list with examples that anyone can come up with, just
remember the Flat Earth Society. Even better is Aristotelean
mechanics: a moving object will stop of its own accord. That was not
only perception, but observation. It took Newton to correctly
identify the laws of motion: a moving object stops when there is an
opposing force that stops it.
The little mantra
that "perception is reality" does nothing but promote and lend
credibility to, junk science. It isn't a harmless idea that anyone
is entitled to have (sorry, Bill).
Ruth Weiner, Ph.
D.
ruthweiner@aol.com