Are we doomed to slower advancement until advancements stop?

Blame it all on the media and advertising. They say don't use cool whip containers in the microwave and don't drink water stored in your car, because it's so dangerous you're lucky you're not dead already. Go out there and buy for your life. Actually the media is advertising itself and advertising is the media. Maybe what has changed is we're too homonginized where we get information and don't think enough. We're always being persuaded and never have to be convinced of anything..

Quote: 1nickelmiracle

Actually the media is advertising itself and advertising is the media. Maybe what has changed is we're too homonginized where we get information and don't think enough. We're always being persuaded and never have to be convinced of anything..

You are on to something there. The media does not exist without hysteria to sell. And the American public lives in such comfort and safety that they are always looking for the next thing to worry about. Critical thinking is discouraged. People cannot tell the difference between news, editorial, and entertainment.

Quote: AZDuffman

Are we so risk-adverse that we will not allow the next breakthrough?

I read an article about the same thing regarding environmental damage in The Economist. The article was talking about economies coming to a standstill because of the decades involved in doing projects like building runways.

I don't know if you have heard of the "precautionary principle" which says you don't need proof of environmental damage, but if there is a question you should not do the project. It is one of the most open - ended legal principles since the witch trials (If she drowns, she's not a witch).

Quote: Pacomartin

I don't know if you have heard of the "precautionary principle" which says you don't need proof of environmental damage, but if there is a question you should not do the project. It is one of the most open - ended legal principles since the witch trials (If she drowns, she's not a witch).

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Haven't heard of it but I have been seeing it. The hoops they are making Keystone XL jump is criminal. Somewhere around here they re-zoned a golf course from Ag to residential so the guy can't lease it for a gas well. On that one I hope he sues and wins then causes a huge tax increase on the residents. You don't want him to use the property then you give him the money I say.

Quote: EU legislation

The burden of proof

In most cases, European consumers and the associations which represent them must demonstrate the danger associated with a procedure or a product placed on the market, except for medicines, pesticides and food additives.

However, in the case of an action being taken under the precautionary principle, the producer, manufacturer or importer may be required to prove the absence of danger. This possibility shall be examined on a case-by-case basis. It cannot be extended generally to all products and procedures placed on the market.

In 1992 during a presentation at Caltech, skeptic James Randi used the phrase "you can't prove a negative". He claims that he cannot prove a negative (such that telepathy does not exist).

So by setting a legal standard "to prove the absence of danger" is similarly nearly impossible. You would have to test an infinite number of situations.

Quote: TheCesspit

(head desk)

A literal LOL when I read this!!!

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Another reason why corporations don't put things on the market nearly as quickly anymore are lawsuits and ridiculous settlement sizes, not because of the 47%.

Quote: 1nickelmiracle

Blame it all on the media and advertising. They say don't use cool whip containers in the microwave and don't drink water stored in your car, because it's so dangerous you're lucky you're not dead already. Go out there and buy for your life. Actually the media is advertising itself and advertising is the media. Maybe what has changed is we're too homonginized where we get information and don't think enough. We're always being persuaded and never have to be convinced of anything..

Damn i've been drinking water out of the car now for decades, even opened bottles that have just sat there for weeks, and I'm still alive. Now, conversely, my wife won't touch water that's been left in the car for even a day or two even when the weather is cold because she doesn't understand the scientific principle backing up the claim, and she's still alive too.

With a sample size of two, who's right!???

Quote: boymimbo

Damn i've been drinking water out of the car now for decades, even opened bottles that have just sat there for weeks, and I'm still alive. Now, conversely, my wife won't touch water that's been left in the car for even a day or two even when the weather is cold because she doesn't understand the scientific principle backing up the claim, and she's still alive too.

With a sample size of two, who's right!???

Some people like to worry about anything and everything. Some need to see danger in everyday life, others accept the "danger."

On the small sample sizes I remember my early days as a PCO trainee. We were doing an office of some kind of very white collar business and so many people would ask, "can you just skip my desk?" Later that day we were working at a moving company, in their office several said, "can you give my desk a double-shot? I don't want those bugs around!"

My mentor asked if I noticed the attitude difference in the differing industries. (Neither had a real problem, it was all preventative.)

I find "office workers" believe the hype more than "hands on" workers. This is not absolute, but office workers in really "clean" businesses believe it more than office workers doing the same exact work in a more "industrial" business.

I think it just comes down to the more real dangers you face the less you worry about little things. Like, "If working on a gas well all day isn't going to kill me then the water I keep in my truck" sure won't.

Quote: boymimbo

who's right!???

The wife is always right ;-)

Quote: chickenman

The wife is always right ;-)

She is always right, which is why before a road trip i am buying water while I just drink whatever's leftover in the car. My personal belief is that exposure to low levels of germs is good for the immune system.

And AZ is generally right. What I find is that workers who are more protected by workplace rules and unions are more likely to be more alarmist about things.

Personally, I get myself into a variety of office situations where my laptop is incorrectly positioned, the keyboard/monitor is crap, my space is small or shared, and so on and so forth. The cost is that my wrists sometimes get worn out when typing. But I can't complain, as my workplace is at 50% whereever in the house I want it to be, this afternoon, from the basement couch, and certainly, the way that I work from home is suboptimal from an ergonomic standpoint.

Back to work.