[gwbas1c]

Some scientists in the Manhattan Project worried that the first nuclear test could trigger a chain reaction that would annihilate the earth.

These fears were unfounded.

(Granted, atmospheric nuclear weapons testing has its own set of subtle consequences that are gradually becoming more well known.)

[ninininino]

I don't quite understand the meaning of your comment, it reads to me like "one time people worried about something but their worries were unfounded" with the subtext/implication that "therefore we don't need to worry" - about this? Or maybe need to worry in general? Or is it just to feel a bit more optimism that not every doomsday fear ends up coming to fruition?

[gwbas1c]

> Or is it just to feel a bit more optimism that not every doomsday fear ends up coming to fruition?

Exactly.

I suspect mirror-image molecule life hasn't evolved because it wouldn't be fit enough to be self-sustaining.

[ceejayoz]

Many invasive species get into new ecosystems only with human help. They can’t do it on their own, but once they’re there… Asian carp and zebra mussels.

[mlyle]

I'm not in favor of a full-on precautionary principle for everything.

But if you take on too many 1 in 1000 or 1 in 10000 risks, eventually things go badly.

Russian roulette or reckless driving looks safe-- for awhile.

Note the person who really advanced the view of "igniting the atmosphere" with fission was Teller back in 1942, who was about the most pro-nuclear scientist you can find. They didn't just shrug and push the button: Bethe and others did a lot of math to conclude that it was exceptionally unlikely.

(Was it too much of a risk, given that we didn't have much experimental data about nitrogen-nitrogen cross-sections? Probably not, but we can't conclude that it was a reasonable risk purely on the basis of "we didn't die.")

[pavel_lishin]

But that's just one example of scientists warning about something and being wrong; it's just an anecdote that you can't draw much from.

[wizzwizz4]

No, they calculated the likelihood of this as being acceptably low. Are you criticising that they checked?

[ceejayoz]

> These fears were unfounded.

Sure, but it's good to prove that one out before pressing the button.

[Terr_]

Especially when there are zero other considerations making you (or the people funding you) think you need to rush past testing.

[hnuser123456]

And when it was found out it wouldn't (at smaller scales), they figured out how much they'd have to scale it up to accomplish that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundial_(weapon)

Seems like the risks of this research are similar to prions.

[oniony]

Conversely, Great Filter.