[dietrichepp]

> Yup, failure to use the metric system in everyday life is why the US has the worst scientists and produces the least scientific output. Oh, wait.

Failure to use the metric system everywhere cost NASA a $125 million Mars orbiter just 16 years ago, and yet here you are, insisting that this is not a problem, and throwing in a non sequitur to justify the position.

[joshuapants]

> Failure to use the metric system everywhere cost NASA a $125 million Mars orbiter

No, bureaucratic failure to address the concerns of people who spotted the error well in advance of the launch cost NASA $125M. The investigation report makes that clear, especially when it goes on to make recommendations for avoiding future mishap; nobody recommended that the engineers needed to brush up on their units.

And yet here you are, insisting that the issue was that we didn't switch over to the metric system, and throwing in some unsupported claims to justify the position.

[gpvos]

Using metric everywhere would have avoided this particular mistake. Although indeed, the bureaucracy would probably have let some other error slip through (like mistaking cm for mm).

[cthalupa]

Science and engineering have already made the switch to metric. NASA and JPL aren't using imperial when designing their probes and rockets anymore.