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I realize I am dealing with a delusional individual...
ARRELL — (archived)

I know he will reject any numbers that do not support his ridiculous claim. Johannes is the extreme example of what I consider a very serious problem, scientific illiteracy. The majority of people are completely ignorant about scientific methods and concepts, yet today humanity is facing serious issues that require such understanding. Anyone with a little bit of science literacy can dismiss Johannes' claims as nonsense, the reason I did the numbers was to give a feel for the SCALE of the numbers- someone that has a concept of those scales can then reject many other spurious claims.

Scientific illiteracy isn't just sad- it is very dangerous in today's world. How many times here has someone argued against global warming by saying something like "Well, we had a record snowfall this year, so much for global warming", or "Computer models are irrelevant", or "Volcanoes put out more CO2", or "Global warming is a good thing"....?

Johannes complete ignorance, and irrational fear of, nuclear power is part of what I consider a VERY serious problem- Nuclear power is essential to our future, yet a large portion of the voting public views it as a scary magical boogey man. The Cassini mission was fought by people that deliberately exploited that ignorance... Even when a simple back of the envelope calculation showed that their claims were nonsense.

So, thats why I did the numbers- that and the fact that I find it fun to do- Back of the envelope calculations are a VERY powerful tool.

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