tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34600314.post1047706237585827462..comments2023-06-05T08:45:15.940-07:00Comments on zen hell: Jeff Syrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06553710770858649264noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34600314.post-78602266618241636122009-08-12T13:05:23.639-07:002009-08-12T13:05:23.639-07:00Hi there, Jeff.
I got your email about your lates...Hi there, Jeff.<br /><br />I got your email about your latest blog, and your comments about the technology behind nuclear weapons are well taken. <br /><br />The US has "dumbed down" in the sciences dramatically in the last 40 years. Fewer people than ever understand nuclear fission and fusion principles, and the contrast between the energy produced by a relatively low energy nuclear explosion, fission, and an extremely high energy one, fusion. The ability to comprehend the destruction of a 100 megaton bomb that has the energy production of 500 "Fat Man" or 700 "Little Boy" nuclear fission weapons dropped on Japan is beyond almost everyone. "Little Boy" killed 140,000 people, and had it been dropped on a more populous city, like Tokyo, the death toll would have been far higher. A 100 megaton nuclear fusion weapon, detonated 2,000 feet above Tokyo, would kill around 8 million people, a recreation of the Holocaust in less than a second.<br /><br />And we have thousands of these suckers here in the US! Thousands? We could kill a billion people with a hundred. <br /><br />The problem is the numbers. They are so huge, they become incomprehensible, dehumanized. If your neighbor dies in a car accident, it has more immediate emotional impact than a million people in Tokyo for most Americans. <br /><br />I wouldn't know where to begin with consciousness-raising. But somebody has to do it, so thanks for being the one.Richardhghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02173379179408427368noreply@blogger.com