Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19971002175502.0068deac@mail.walltech.com>
Date: Thu, 02 Oct 1997 17:55:02 -0500
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: geoff ruth <geoffr@eastside.org>
Subject: Re: Cassini, more Nasa answers
In-Reply-To: <v01540b12b059de0ad2e4@[192.174.2.173]>
Paul,
Inevitably when people see scientific assurances that potentially dangerous
experiments CAN'T go wrong, they point to past technologies that did fail
while they were supposedly foolproof. The Titantic, 3 Mile Island, and the
Challenger all come to mind as examples of such failed assurances. I'm
curious how you would respond to someone who says that s/he can't believe
scientific guarantees because the history of science is full of cases where
dangerous technologies failed catastrophically despite assurances.
-Geoff Ruth
Geoff Ruth
Eastside School
2101 Pulgas Avenue
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
(650) 323-5898