Why Asteroid Panic Is On the Rise

space.com ^ | 08 March 2012 | Natalie Wolchover

[presidio9]

There are several interesting pictures the web page.

[dfwgator]

I have asteroids, can’t even sit on the toilet, some days.

[WayneS]

Even if that failed, any Earthbound asteroid has a 70 percent chance of plunging into the ocean, and a much higher chance still of impacting only an ocean or an unoccupied land region.

Or, as per Homer Simpson, "It will burn up in the atmosphere and what's left will be no bigger than a Chihuahua's head."

[MrB]

I can explain this.

There is, indeed, a sense of dread, or foreboding, or a sense of incredible change that most humans are sensing in the world right now, and part of their anxiety is their inability to identify the source of this anxiety.

So, this asteroid “comes along”, and people are unconsciously saying “oh, that’s why I feel this way”.

I have my own theory as to what this “anxious” feeling is coming from.
Maranatha.

[evets]

[WayneS]

Even if that failed, any Earthbound asteroid has a 70 percent chance of plunging into the ocean, and a much higher chance still of impacting only an ocean or an unoccupied land region.

Or, as per Homer Simpson, "It will burn up in the atmosphere and what's left will be no bigger than a Chihuahua's head."

[presidio9]

I have asteroids...

Not one of your better efforts.

[Telepathic Intruder]

150 feet across is not even very big. Not dangerous at all unless it lands nearly on top of you. Well, within a mile maybe.

[cripplecreek]

Awareness.

That is all.

[dfwgator]

Everybody has an off-day once in awhile.

[crosshairs]

I have asteroids, can’t even sit on the toilet, some days.

So yer sayin, sometimes it feels like Uranus is on fire?

[crosshairs]

I think it’s the lost souls that have this dread. And rightly so.

[presidio9]

There is absolutely no evidence to prove that aliens were NOT at the First Thanksgiving.

[brownsfan]

“NASA assures the world that there is no chance of asteroid 2012 DA14 hitting Earth next year. Zero, zip, zilch. “

I’m not worried, but an assurance from NASA is like an assurance from Obama, worth nothing.

Did NASA do the calculations in meters of yards?

[patton]

“An asteroid this size strikes Earth every 700 years or so, Yeomans said. Humanity has survived innumerable such events.
“

Yeah, except the last one caused the dark ages.

[dirtboy]

In psychology, this is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. People who lack knowledge in a given area, such as science, are unable to accurately assess their own abilities in that area, and so they aren't aware that they are coming to blatantly false conclusions. David Dunning, a psychologist at Cornell University who first characterized the phenomenon, recently explained, "Many people don't have training in science, and so they may very well misunderstand the science. But because they don't have the knowledge to evaluate it, they don't realize how off their evaluations might be."

I think it's more than that. To me, above and beyond those described by Dunning, there are folks who profit from selling panic on the internet and those who feel much bigger and more important because they peddle nonsense on the internet. And both prey on those described by Dunning.

[6ppc]

what's left will be no bigger than a Chihuahua's head

Ahh, but it will be a particularly energetic Chihuahua ;^)

[presidio9]

How about this:

“Don’t have a grandson with a dog collar. Understand that Ron Paul is a jackass.”

[Cyber Liberty]

But even so, NASA assures the world that there is no chance of asteroid 2012 DA14 hitting Earth next year. Zero, zip, zilch.

So why are people concerned? Because they know NASA is more concerned about faking GW data and Muslim outreach than the hard science for which they were once famous. They simply don't trust NASA, and who can blame them? Duh.

[brownsfan]

*** The other half of the problem is that many people do not know how to judge the validity of the pseudo-scientific information they read. “There are millions of people out there who have not been trained in the scientific method, and don’t understand that evidence is critical for supporting any new idea — especially any dramatic departure from the current state,” he said. ***

“So, it’s easy for NASA to spew Global Warming Theology as pseudo-science, and we know the public will buy into it!” he continued.