Editing Talk:1904: Research Risks
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Ah, but there was another [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu_molasses_spill|spill in 2013 in Honolulu]. (I just learned of it from the "See Also" section of the Wikipedia page on the Great Molasses Flood.) That one didn't kill any people (though it was an ecological disaster) but it speaks to risk. Anyway, the item ''is'' in the right quadrant. Arguably is should be further to the right, but also arguably not, since conducting experiments in the area could lead to more accidents.[[User:Jqavins|Jqavins]] ([[User talk:Jqavins|talk]]) 16:08, 18 October 2017 (UTC) | Ah, but there was another [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu_molasses_spill|spill in 2013 in Honolulu]. (I just learned of it from the "See Also" section of the Wikipedia page on the Great Molasses Flood.) That one didn't kill any people (though it was an ecological disaster) but it speaks to risk. Anyway, the item ''is'' in the right quadrant. Arguably is should be further to the right, but also arguably not, since conducting experiments in the area could lead to more accidents.[[User:Jqavins|Jqavins]] ([[User talk:Jqavins|talk]]) 16:08, 18 October 2017 (UTC) | ||
:Only, even assuming there's such a thing as molasses storage research, it's unlikely that your lab is going to contain life-threatening quantities of molasses. It's not as if a few liters escaping could reproduce and turn into thousands of tons. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.35|141.101.99.35]] 16:27, 18 October 2017 (UTC) | :Only, even assuming there's such a thing as molasses storage research, it's unlikely that your lab is going to contain life-threatening quantities of molasses. It's not as if a few liters escaping could reproduce and turn into thousands of tons. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.35|141.101.99.35]] 16:27, 18 October 2017 (UTC) | ||
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Plus how many times have robots escaped from a lab in real life? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.70|172.68.78.70]] 12:11, 19 October 2017 (UTC) | Plus how many times have robots escaped from a lab in real life? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.70|172.68.78.70]] 12:11, 19 October 2017 (UTC) | ||
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:I had the same initial reaction, but note how Randall didn't write "movie supervillain", but just "supervillain", so you should only take into account what is currently feasible in technology state-of-the-art, or what we can reasonably foresee for the next decade or so. I don't see any madman being able to revive (and control!) dinosaurs, capture a comet or trigger an earthquake in the next 10-20 years. As for shark-mounted lasers, they are cool to show off and inspire fear, but hardly useful to achieve world domination by themselves. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.35|141.101.99.35]] 16:18, 18 October 2017 (UTC) | :I had the same initial reaction, but note how Randall didn't write "movie supervillain", but just "supervillain", so you should only take into account what is currently feasible in technology state-of-the-art, or what we can reasonably foresee for the next decade or so. I don't see any madman being able to revive (and control!) dinosaurs, capture a comet or trigger an earthquake in the next 10-20 years. As for shark-mounted lasers, they are cool to show off and inspire fear, but hardly useful to achieve world domination by themselves. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.35|141.101.99.35]] 16:18, 18 October 2017 (UTC) | ||
::When we get into the realm of supervillainy - especially given XKCD's history - we're almost certainly talking fiction. And if we're talking fiction, Randall's forgotten about ''Moonraker'', where astronomy and dentistry both play a significant role in the supervillain's plot, and should thus rate higher on the vertical scale. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.16|172.68.78.16]] 02:42, 19 October 2017 (UTC) | ::When we get into the realm of supervillainy - especially given XKCD's history - we're almost certainly talking fiction. And if we're talking fiction, Randall's forgotten about ''Moonraker'', where astronomy and dentistry both play a significant role in the supervillain's plot, and should thus rate higher on the vertical scale. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.78.16|172.68.78.16]] 02:42, 19 October 2017 (UTC) | ||
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Looks like the "Research Risk" column is just a comment field open for speculation -- can we merge Comments and Research Risk into one column? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebob]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 03:34, 19 October 2017 (UTC) | Looks like the "Research Risk" column is just a comment field open for speculation -- can we merge Comments and Research Risk into one column? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebob]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 03:34, 19 October 2017 (UTC) | ||
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If ''Marathon Man'' is anything to judge by, dentistry can be used by a superillain in his bid to take over the world... just not to actually conquer the world. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.56|162.158.155.56]] 14:57, 19 October 2017 (UTC) | If ''Marathon Man'' is anything to judge by, dentistry can be used by a superillain in his bid to take over the world... just not to actually conquer the world. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.56|162.158.155.56]] 14:57, 19 October 2017 (UTC) | ||
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