The prescience of Carl Sagan

Discussion in 'Science' started by Bowerbird, Jul 13, 2021.

  1. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    I've studied Ronald Reagan for years. He was a long term advocate of eliminating nuclear weapons and had been for decades. Yes, Reagan had opposed nuclear arms control agreements like SALT II because he felt they were unfair to the U.S. and favorable to the Soviet Union (he was right of course) but he still advocated the elimination of nuclear weapons.

    And I know Cold War history better, far better than anyone else on this board.
     
  2. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    Can you prove they didn’t? What happened to nuclear proliferation?
     
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  3. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    It is still a problem. If it weren't we wouldn't have to worry about Iran and North Korea would we.
     
  4. OldManOnFire

    OldManOnFire Well-Known Member

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    Saving mankind from a nuclear war and subsequent nuclear winter was a political priority for Sagan...
     
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  5. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    An utter waste of time as nuclear winter is a myth and only strength prevents conflicts.
     
  6. OldManOnFire

    OldManOnFire Well-Known Member

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  7. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    The Federation of American Scientists is known for being notoriously liberal and anti military. Not a credible source. Find a pro nuclear weapons group if you want a credible source. Like Edward Teller.
     
  8. OldManOnFire

    OldManOnFire Well-Known Member

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  9. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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  10. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    Now this is an example of what is known as cognitive bias

    Dismissing something without examining the merit based on perceived political stance

    if you are going to dismiss something it should be on merit ie what are the facts
     
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  11. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    I've dealt with arguments advanced by the FAS since the 1980s.

    I don't recall them ever once arguing in favor of nuclear weapons.
     
  12. Bowerbird

    Bowerbird Well-Known Member

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    Don’t blame them I am not exactly ‘in favour” of something that could cause mass extinction overnight

    Here is good old Wiki
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_winter
    Followed by Brittanica
    https://www.britannica.com/science/nuclear-winterhttps://www.britannica.com/science/nuclear-winter
    Nature magazine

    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00794-y
     
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  13. OldManOnFire

    OldManOnFire Well-Known Member

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    I think Enrico Fermi will disagree with you thinking Teller 'invented fusion weapons'.

    Too bad you didn't read the article for it clearly stated Teller was a brilliant scientist...but he made mistakes...
     
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  14. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    I read the article in its entirety
     
  15. Jack Hays

    Jack Hays Well-Known Member Donor

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    “We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.”
    ― Robert Wilensky
     

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