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Subject: 
Re: Oddball thoughts (was: Hiroshima-Was It Necessary?)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Mon, 22 Oct 2001 04:07:12 GMT
Viewed: 
639 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Ross Crawford writes:
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:

  Here's an oddball thought:  Imagine a world where Hiroshima and
  Nagasaki were never bombed, and nuclear weapons were never seen
  in action on such a comparatively small scale.  I'd be willing
  to posit that in such a world, a Cuban Missile Crisis would
  have become World War III, and we wouldn't be here flapping
  our jaw-meat about it.  Does the end justify the means?  Can
  there not be any *positive* value to having seen the horror of
  a Hiroshima and Nagasaki relative to the survival of humanity?

Here's another oddball thought: It's likely humanity will eventually cease to
exist at some time in the future, anyway, so was it worth imparting
such horror
on the Japanese population, just to keep humanity going a bit longer?

Was that a serious question?

Nah, just an oddball thought. People seemed to be considering "what if"s, and
that was my oddball "what if" taken to extremes 8?)

What are the alternative values to weigh against? I see humanity as good for
millions of years, actually. We may actually last all the way to the heat
death of the universe, we're pretty clever.

We'd have to come up with some sort of practical interstellar travel technique
first - the solar system's gonna get unlivable way before the death of the
universe. But (IMO) we're gonna be history way before that.

ROSCO



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Oddball thoughts (was: Hiroshima-Was It Necessary?)
 
(...) How do you figure? In part it depends on your definition of "we". Humanity has "stopped evolution" recently, and is poised to "take control of evolution" with genetic engineering of ourselves. I say "we" are what we make ourselves into, but (...) (23 years ago, 22-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Oddball thoughts (was: Hiroshima-Was It Necessary?)
 
(...) Was that a serious question? What are the alternative values to weigh against? I see humanity as good for millions of years, actually. We may actually last all the way to the heat death of the universe, we're pretty clever. (23 years ago, 22-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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