OT: What is the biggest

[primitive]

Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
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The asteroid threat is quite real, but we don't know how imminent. That's why we need to spend a little bit (a very little bit in government terms) to at least continue to search for near earth objects. The naysayers are exhibiting a classic misunderstanding of what statistics are about.

Statistics are not laws of nature, they are just observations about averages. The "odds are" there won't be anyone coming the other way the next time you are approaching some rural 4-way stop between some fully grown cornfields where you can't see the road on the right or left. Are you gonna just charge through it at 60 mph without stopping since 'the odds' are in your favor? Or are you smart enough to realize that if there actually is a car coming the other way you'll be just as dead as if you'd driven actoss a busy highway without stopping? Statistics don't tell you about reality. They just give averages. You have to look for yourself to see what is actually the case right now. It doesn't matter what the 'odds' are per year of an asteroid hitting the earth. If there is one on course to hit us next year it WILL hit us next year.

In relative terms it really would cost very, very little to keep of a good search for asteroids that might hit us. A few tens of millions of dollars when NASA gets about $15 billion a year Last I heard?

Bad example Baron M.
Statistically, the faster you drive the less chance you have to hit someone at a blind intersection. On the other hand, driving faster will give a more severe accident so it will probably be wise to do the snails pace anyway

As for the Asteroids; the chance of them hitting is so small its ridiculous to worry about. There are hundreds of potential disasters more capable of exterminating all/most intelligent: Nuclear war, pollution, diseases (both natural and genetically tailored and wilfully released), country music.

The real danger: Lack of energy.
There are simply not enough energy sources available to upgrade everyone on the planet to �western� living standards. At the moment it is other factors that keep the poor down, but sooner or later it will come down to the availability of energy. Then the tough question will be: Keep it for ourselves and expect local conflicts and terrorism to skyrocket, or share it and live with the *****ing of the people who have to park their SUVs. Gonna be a tossup.