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Complex problems often require complex solutions. I imagine that your suggestion works for some situations but not all. The cynical side of me thinks that one o
by jdubs 9y ago
Complex problems often require complex solutions. I imagine that your suggestion works for some situations but not all. The cynical side of me thinks that one of the few benefits of the disaster will be new technology and robots that will help prevent future disasters. I imagine there's a very high priced market for these kinds of hardened robots.
- agumonkey 9y agoThere was a documentary about Tchernobyl surrounding forest few years ago. Most of the vegetation grew back, healthily for my naked eye. Anyways, the most surprising part is that mammals were back too; even though the radiation level was higher than average. I concluded that only a few generation of darwinian selection is needed to breed radiation hardened humans.
- sillysaurus3 9y agoAnimals that die within 5 years probably don't have enough time to succumb to the effects of radiation. That's just a guess though.
- agumonkey 9y agoPossibly, and maybe with lower radiation levels they don't exhibit mutations...
- dasil003 9y agoIt's also quite random, they may live there and the background radiation isn't bad enough on average to kill them, but then if they accidentally ingest a few hot particles it could be game over pretty quickly. For most animals this might not even register in the top 10 existential threats, but for humans the psychological stress would be debilitating.
- maxerickson 9y agoWhy would you draw such a concrete conclusion? What about the animals you possibly didn't see and how many animals reach fertility in 2-3 years?
- agumonkey 9y agoBecause I watch too many X-Men movies
- frivoal 9y agoAlternatively, the animals aren't radiation hardened and do die of cancer, but not fast enough to get in the way of breeding and multiplying. Or, in other words, while radioactive waste is unhealthy, it fatality rate is lower than having humans around.
- nolok 9y agoOr put another way : evolution and natural selection aren't about living a long time, they're about reproducing.
- Pica_soO 9y agoOr put another way: Nothing is that poisonous that nature cant swallow it first and bring it underground, thus making nature the ultimate hipster.
- erikpukinskis 9y ago... which is why nuclear holocaust is a risk for individuals and nations but not an extinction risk for the species as a whole.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mikeash 9y agoKeep in mind that the Chernobyl exclusion zone has not been fully enforced, and people do live there: https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-04-26/30-years-after-chernobyl-these-ukrainian-babushkas-are-still-living-their-toxic https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-04-26/30-years-after-cherno... It's probably unwise, but it's not super deadly.
- marze 9y agoIf a solution does the job, it does the job. In the six years since the meltdowns, they've been building these robots, which up until this year, have all failed. With an electronics-free periscope, they could have saved five years. And keep in mind, the radioisotopes are still flowing into the ocean this whole time.
- aluhut 9y agoI'm pretty sure the accident in Fukushima accelerated the development in this niche. Especially in Japan.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Pica_soO 9y agoRadiation safe robots could be a plus in space one day.