The precautionary principle comes up a lot when you're talking about the side effects of technology in the real world. When you don't have evidence that something is dangerous — but you suspect it might be — you could cite the precautionary principle as a reason to ban or limit the use of that thing. It's a messy idea, though, and I'm still not sure what to think about it. On the one hand, technology is often available before data on the wide-ranging effects of that technology are available. Do you use it or not is a legitimate question. On the other hand, following the precautionary principle in a blind sort of way can lead to things like this.
How safe is safe?
For 1,000 years people have seen strange lights on the Moon
According to the science of transient lunar phenomena, observers have reported brief lights, colors, and hazes on the Moon for at least a thousand years, and astronomers still cannot fully… READ THE REST
A volcano froze crops worldwide in 1453
According to the record of the 1452/1453 mystery eruption, a volcano erupted somewhere on Earth powerful enough to inject about 11 megatons of sulfur into the stratosphere — "roughly one-third… READ THE REST
Deaf kids in 1980s Nicaragua created a language from thin air
In 1977, a special-education center opened in Managua with 50 deaf children. Enrollment reached 400 across two schools by 1983. Teachers drilled the students in spoken Spanish and lipreading, "with… READ THE REST
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