Does the world deserve to know?

[Kenpachi]

So today one of my teachers told us about a meteor 3 times the size of earth that missed us by a some million miles. Short enough to have possibly been a threat but far enough to not hit us or be seen. There was a time when astronomers/government knew it was coming and weren't certain it wouldn't hit us. They decided not to make this information public. We discussed for a while weather or not the world should have been informed, it might have caused mass panic but do we have the right to know the world is about to end?

EDIT: I'm just repeating what I heard, weather this was true or not doesn't matter. The discussion is on should the world be notified about a unavoidable world ending danger.

Would you want to know?
Should the world be allowed to know?

 

[Electivirus]

Better to be ignorant and happy, I always say.

Do you really want riots in the streets?

 

[Riversong]

I'd want to know, that way if it did become evident that it would hit us, it wouldn't be as shocking since I knew of the possibility beforehand. Plus, if it was going to hit, I could make sure to patch things up with people, so I wouldn't die with regrets. I'd wait until there was almost a clear decision on whether or not it'd hit. One thing I don't like is surprise (in a bad way), so say I decided to put something off (for example...telling a crush I liked him, etc), but only to discover that i'd never get the chance to do so because i'd die beforehand.

The world should know. Those that choose to not believe it (or ignore it), then good for them, but the rest of us should at least be given the opportunity to know the truth.

Anyways, would you rather die in shock and fear? Or accepting of what is happening, and with the people you love?

 

[Drake Pokétrainer]

There aren't meteors 3 times the size of Earth because those would behave like planets (the biggest ones are the size of Texas).
It is true that there is a small chance a meteor will strike Earth in 2035, but it's only a few hundred meters. However, the meteor that was the cause of the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous era was only ten kilometers.

There is also a killer meteor of a few kilometers in size that will maybe (just maybe) strike Earth near the year 3000.

But, in theory, if that would be the case, the world shouldn't know. People would start panicing, rioting, etc.

 

[Gin_no_Soyokaze]

I'd like to know, for personal reasons. If there was a meteor coming, I'd go blow my college fund on things I've always wanted to do, run away with my boyfriend to spend my last days doing things I'd like to do with the person I want to do them with. However, if this sort of information got out, I doubt I would be the only one who knew. The entire world would go into panic and try to do the exact same thing. There forth, everything will cease being tranquil. The world shouldn't know about these things. It would make our planet a bit of south of heaven before it all ends.

 

[Electivirus]

I'd like to know, for personal reasons. If there was a meteor coming, I'd go blow my college fund on things I've always wanted to do, run away with my boyfriend to spend my last days doing things I'd like to do with the person I want to do them with. However, if this sort of information got out, I doubt I would be the only one who knew. The entire world would go into panic and try to do the exact same thing. There forth, everything will cease being tranquil. The world shouldn't know about these things. It would make our planet a bit of south of heaven before it all ends.

What if it missed?

 

[Gin_no_Soyokaze]

What if it missed?

If it missed, we would dive even deeper into this recession, it would be a bit difficult to reinstall any sort of government, and I'd have to deal with my parents or continue hiding from the officials on the lookout for me. I'd prolly eventually get the officials off of my trail by either waiting it out or faking my death.
If everyone stopped doing their jobs and went into a riot, imagine what Wall Street would look like! Unacceptable!

However, it all depends on whether or not you would want to take the chance and live the rest of your life how you would like to versus continuing on in hopes of the meteor missing.

 

[Pokemonwarrior]

So today one of my teachers told us about a meteor 3 times the size of earth that missed us by a some million miles. Short enough to have possibly been a threat but far enough to not hit us or be seen. There was a time when astronomers/government knew it was coming and weren't certain it wouldn't hit us. They decided not to make this information public. We discussed for a while weather or not the world should have been informed, it might have caused mass panic but do we have the right to know the world is about to end?

EDIT: I'm just repeating what I heard, weather this was true or not doesn't matter. The discussion is on should the world be notified about a unavoidable world ending danger.

Would you want to know?
Should the world be allowed to know?

There was one that came close the other day it was closer than to moon is to us and as far away as 2 times the distance of one of are closest communication satellites are from what I here.

But I think it surprised even the scientist that were in charge at the time since they said that it basically came out of now where even though they were tracking it it got closer than their models showed.


look at this we found out after it happened lol so did the people watching it XD I say let us live with out knowing so we dont have to worry about it and it seems we cant see it coming till its to late anyways.

 

[InfamousMrJ]

Ignorance is bliss.
Would I like to know? Yes.
Should the world know? No.

 

[not_girly_girl]

There aren't meteors 3 times the size of Earth because those would behave like planets (the biggest ones are the size of Texas).
It is true that there is a small chance a meteor will strike Earth in 2035, but it's only a few hundred meters. However, the meteor that was the cause of the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous era was only ten kilometers.

There is also a killer meteor of a few kilometers in size that will maybe (just maybe) strike Earth near the year 3000.

But, in theory, if that would be the case, the world shouldn't know. People would start panicing, rioting, etc.

I woder if you heard about the hyphotfesis on how we can put a space object near a metoer about to strike Earth and it will slowly move away from our orbit and miss earth?

 

[Fujitsu]

I wonder if you heard about the hypothesis on how we can put a space object near a meteor about to strike Earth and it will slowly move away from our orbit and miss earth?

Or the theory where we tow it away, or the theory where we push it with light energy, or the theory where we strap a rocket engine onto the meteor, or the theory where we wrap the meteor with plastic wrap so as to have it moved by radiation pressure, or the theory where we shoot water at it, or the theory where we blow the thing up with nukes, or the theory that we summon the aliens of Xenu to move it?

There's plenty of suggested ideas, they all have their faults, and some are just less feasible than others.

You'd have to have a pretty ****ing huge "space object" to have it's gravitational pull move a normal meteor, let alone a threatening one.
An object the size of the moon would have a near negligible effect on a large meteor. Think of what we'd need to move one.

On topic: If the government has the ability to successfully move a near-Earth object, I don't believe the population doesn't need to know. If there is a chance that Earth could be at risk, I'd say tell people. They have a right to know of their possible doom.

 

[hello moto]

Originally Posted by girly_girl
I wonder if you heard about the hypothesis on how we can put a space object near a meteor about to strike Earth and it will slowly move away from our orbit and miss earth?

We have nuclear bombs, it's time we used them for something good, other than scaring 3rd world countries that we will nuke you if you do something bad.

Anyways, i would not like to know, as everyone will just go crazy and start rioting, stealing, raping, killing etc. Absolute panic has always brought out the worst in most humans. I would like my last moments to be in peace or try to find a new planet to live.

 

[Drake Pokétrainer]

We have nuclear bombs, it's time we used them for something good, other than scaring 3rd world countries that we will nuke you if you do something bad.

Nuking a meteorite is the worst thing you can do.
The gravitational forces of those pieces make that they come together after the explosion AND they'll be filled with radioactive ions.

 

[Stockholm]

Nuking a meteorite is the worst thing you can do.
The gravitational forces of those pieces make that they come together after the explosion AND they'll be filled with radioactive ions.

Absolutely False:

First of all, the earth's Magnetic field would More than protect us from Free Radicals as a result of a thousand nuclear detonations, assuming the detonations are more than 15,000 Nautical miles away from the earth (thats still very close)

second: the point of striking a N.E.O. object is never to destroy, but to slow down. we could dramtically slow down a midsize comet with a single Tactical Nuke, with a very low yield. its simple Physics really, Projectile motion, and being N.E.O.s never change speed, or course, it is very---very easy to predict, correspond, and execute a strike on any N.E.O. years before it becomes any threat at all. The Anchient Maya could predict N.E.O.s long before Strategic space command even existed.

Point being, two moving objects fly along set paths that intersect. the only way they would collide is if they had pefectly correlating speeds, and trajectories, so we simply slow one down. in this case, we slow down the N.E.O. and it ends up missing us, because either Jupiter, or the Sun will pull it away.

Thirdly, why would we deflect a meteorite?, wouldn't that be a lttile too late? a meteorite, is a meteor that has breached the earth's atmosphere, and collided with the earth itself...

Oh, and N.E.O. stands for Near Earth Object...

 

[Poliwag2]

Would you want to know?

Why would I want to know about an inevitable terrible event over which I have no control...

Should the world be allowed to know?

No way. People would just loot and rape.

 

[PartyPokemon]

Tell the people, yes. SOME people should know.
But don't tell the idiots. They'll think it's the apocalypse and start doing idiotic stuff, yelling "OMG we iz alll gona gett killd lololololololol."

 

[shadowkami]

Tell me PLEASE. I want to know. That way I can be cheapskate and start praying again. Don't bother telling everyone else because there will instantly be 6 billion douchebags running around.

 

[Nikacho]

It would cause some madness, but some smart people may hide underground being smart.

 

[Sapphiredragon929]

Would you want to know?
Why nor, "I'm not coming into school today because the world may end"

Should the world be allowed to know?
Anything to brighten up my incredibly dulled life.

 

[chuboy]

Think about the hubbub RE: Y2K. There was a lot of exploiting of fear around that. Shops trying to sell post-apocalypse contraptions and whatnot.

Thing is, all you had to do was wind the clock on your computer forward to 11:59:59pm, 31st DEC 1999 and see if it shat itself. If it didn't, Y2K wasn't going to affect it.

But did people care about his logical validation? No. Still, if the government decides they can hide that, where do they draw the line?