[meteorite-list] An Asteroid Headed Our Way (2004 MN4 - 99942 Apophis)

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Jul 25 19:56:54 2005
Message-ID: <BE076B8CCE4CFE4D9598230D888B2ADF07C867_at_0005-its-exs01.mail.saic.com>

Tom opined:

> Is it right to mess with "mother nature"? From the beginning
> of time cosmic events have been part of nature. If "mother
> nature" thinks it's time for mankind to end, then do we have
> the right to stop it?

Absolutely. Not only the right, but the obligation.

> Natural disasters are part of life, we will never stop earthquakes,
> tornados, tidal waves, hurricanes or volcanos, because we can not,
> should we stop asteroids just because we can?

While we cannot (currently) prevent the other types of natural
disasters you list, technology already allows us to minimize their
impact as far as loss of life. Weather satellites and Doppler radar
take care of tornados and hurricanes; seismic monitoring and CO2 detectors
handle volcanoes; ocean buoys, seismographs and radio can provide advance
warning of tsunamis.

> Mother nature knows what she's doing, let her do her thing!

I have to believe that human beings were given a brain for a reason:
to USE it. Consider how fortunate we are to live at the precise
point in time where we are transitioning from being helpless victims
of the next asteroid strike to actually being able to prevent it.

Perhaps a few million years ago "Mother Nature" got tired of being
whacked by mass-extinction space rocks every few dozen million years
and having all her hard work wiped out in an afternoon, and so
decided to come up with a defense mechanism: us!

--Rob
Received on Mon 25 Jul 2005 07:56:46 PM PDT