[TML] Solution to the near-c rock question

[Jerry W Barrington]

On 1/31/08 7:13 AM, "shadow at shadowgard.com" <shadow at shadowgard.com> wrote:

> On 29 Jan 2008 at 22:02, Jerry W Barrington wrote:
> 
>> On 1/29/08 3:03 PM, "John Kwon" <jtkwon at jtkgroup.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> * It's just barely possible to evacuate Kansas City to a distance of 100
>>> miles in 48 hours. This requires lots of airplanes. It also requires
>>> martial law, so that 'looters will be arrested on sight'. (Have they no
>>> mercy?) With 30+ hours to go, people will panic in the streets and run
>>> around at random.
>> 
>> Umm...  if the asteroid is going to hit KC, there won't be any property to
>> come back and recover.  Leaving the looters to have fun chlorinates the gene
>> pool.  :P
> 
> I often think that we *need* an asteroid strike on Earth.  One that
> misses anyplace important, but is somewhere where the TV cameras can
> get there quickly to show the destruction.
> 
> It'll take something like that to drive home the idea that it really
> *is* a danger. 

Probably true.  Problem is, people are hardwired to think in terms of
immediate effects.  It takes an effort to think to next year.  For most
people, next century is irrelevant.  After all, they'll already be dead
anyway, so it's not their problem.  This is why politicians do so many
stupid things.  Easier to spend $1,000,000 now in my election district
(which helps me get re-elected) than spend it on some project with no
visible result (which helps me leave politics).