What looks good on paper, but is un-ideal, and perhaps dangerous, when implemented
knee replacement has also been very beneficial to a lot of people. What makes you think it qualifies as good only on paper? Try talking to some old people: most who have had it are much better off, though it was, like many such things, much worse when it came out than it is today...
closed account (E8A4Nwbp)
I did realise, quite amusing and literal really,
The manner most schools teach you to take notes in, according to the founder of the Cornell notes method, is ineffective, although it may come across as ideal, on paper.
The manner most schools teach you to take notes in, according to the founder of the Cornell notes method, is ineffective, although it may come across as ideal, on paper.
closed account (E8A4Nwbp)
Thalidomide can't possibly be good on paper and bad in real life correct?
Helps you sleep, disfigures babies. You don't happen to have a counter?
Helps you sleep, disfigures babies. You don't happen to have a counter?
What if you're a man, or sterile, or not trying to conceive or pregnant, or not breastfeeding?
Is there anything that doesn't fit into this category? Something that no matter what cannot be misused and under no circumstances can have any harmful or suboptimal effects? Because if both a note-taking method that's not quite as effective as it seems initially, and a drug that has negative side effects on a minute portion of the population both fit, I struggle to imagine anything that can't be said to be "good on paper but unideal and perhaps dangerous". Even water can kill you if you drink enough of it.
Is there anything that doesn't fit into this category? Something that no matter what cannot be misused and under no circumstances can have any harmful or suboptimal effects? Because if both a note-taking method that's not quite as effective as it seems initially, and a drug that has negative side effects on a minute portion of the population both fit, I struggle to imagine anything that can't be said to be "good on paper but unideal and perhaps dangerous". Even water can kill you if you drink enough of it.
Anything can be made to fit on edge cases.
I was taking it more generally, where the results were 'mostly bad' but the 'theory seemed sound'. 'Mostly bad' is of course subjective, so if you limit that to '95% of people agree' you get the real amusing stuff, like the solar panel highway we talked about. Some of those fade if you note that the problem was execution, not the concept.
just about anything is dangerous if you work hard enough at it. As one old book put it.. "Hes not a bad boy, I just can't think of enough things to tell him not to do".
Most of it boils down to premature execution. Humanity is in an awful hurry, with life being short and all, so people try to do things that we can't quite pull off yet. Mars/moon colony type things -- today it would be risky, expensive, and difficult. In 50-100 years it could be safe, relatively cheap, and only a little challenging (who knows?). If I had a nickel for every moronic 'by year 2000' prediction :) And another for every 'we will all die in X years from BLAH' where X years since the prediction are long past, I would be a millionaire -- so take any future predictions here with a block of salt
I was taking it more generally, where the results were 'mostly bad' but the 'theory seemed sound'. 'Mostly bad' is of course subjective, so if you limit that to '95% of people agree' you get the real amusing stuff, like the solar panel highway we talked about. Some of those fade if you note that the problem was execution, not the concept.
just about anything is dangerous if you work hard enough at it. As one old book put it.. "Hes not a bad boy, I just can't think of enough things to tell him not to do".
Most of it boils down to premature execution. Humanity is in an awful hurry, with life being short and all, so people try to do things that we can't quite pull off yet. Mars/moon colony type things -- today it would be risky, expensive, and difficult. In 50-100 years it could be safe, relatively cheap, and only a little challenging (who knows?). If I had a nickel for every moronic 'by year 2000' prediction :) And another for every 'we will all die in X years from BLAH' where X years since the prediction are long past, I would be a millionaire -- so take any future predictions here with a block of salt
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closed account (E8A4Nwbp)
| if you drink enough of it. |
Okay, then no chemical substance fits the category. The only distinction between "use" and "abuse" that can be established is the dosage, and even lead is not poisonous if it's in a small enough concentration.
But I believe I do have an example: pest control by introduction of predators seems like a good idea. You just release a new species in the area and they'll kill your pest for you. No extra work needed!
But in reality this often seriously destabilizes the ecosystem and the new species becomes an even bigger problem than what you were trying to solve.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_pest_control#Side_effects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia
But I believe I do have an example: pest control by introduction of predators seems like a good idea. You just release a new species in the area and they'll kill your pest for you. No extra work needed!
But in reality this often seriously destabilizes the ecosystem and the new species becomes an even bigger problem than what you were trying to solve.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_pest_control#Side_effects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia
closed account (E8A4Nwbp)
Thank you ever so much helios. This looks terrific! The consequence goes on out of view, which is just what I need!
Asbestos arguably fit. I'm not proficient in science, however, so I don't know if they're what you would call a chemical substance, but if so, Arguably.
EDIT:
Congratulations, @Furry-Guy, You're at 999 posts. May your life have substantially improved at [whatever is your next milestone] posts, if you reach there.
| Okay, then no chemical substance fits the category |
EDIT:
Congratulations, @Furry-Guy, You're at 999 posts. May your life have substantially improved at [whatever is your next milestone] posts, if you reach there.
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Asbestos is a material; a crystalline form of silicate (silicon oxide). Either way, there's an amount of asbestos you can be around such that it won't give you cancer in your lifetime.
Asbestos isn't bad, it just must be used in the right context.
| The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), has set limits of 100,000 fibers with lengths greater than or equal to 5 µm per cubic meter of workplace air for eight-hour shifts and 40-hour work weeks. |
Asbestos isn't bad, it just must be used in the right context.
its one of those once in a lifetime products. I remember as a kid seeing a thin sheet of it, a blowtorch on one side and a guys hand on the other, and it stopped the heat.
Its great in 'plate' or 'sheet' form. Its risky in insulation/blown fluff form, where it can shatter into microfibers. Its a lot like rock mining: microscopic bits of rock hard crap in the air are bad to breathe for prolonged periods of time. I am not 100% sure but I would take a good guess that they still use it in the heat shields for re-entry of spacecraft (?). It just happens to have the nasty quality of making hair like hard micro fibers, which like to tunnel. Give it a decade and I predict (there I go again) that anyone snorting carbon nanotubes will suffer a similar fate. CNT have a lot of neat properties, but they probably are best not inhaled.
Its great in 'plate' or 'sheet' form. Its risky in insulation/blown fluff form, where it can shatter into microfibers. Its a lot like rock mining: microscopic bits of rock hard crap in the air are bad to breathe for prolonged periods of time. I am not 100% sure but I would take a good guess that they still use it in the heat shields for re-entry of spacecraft (?). It just happens to have the nasty quality of making hair like hard micro fibers, which like to tunnel. Give it a decade and I predict (there I go again) that anyone snorting carbon nanotubes will suffer a similar fate. CNT have a lot of neat properties, but they probably are best not inhaled.
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closed account (E8A4Nwbp)
Oh dear,
All these ideas are nugatory now. For multiple reasons, I won't be using these now, as I won't be doing a presentation. Thank you for your time otherwise, and sorry for your time aswell.
All these ideas are nugatory now. For multiple reasons, I won't be using these now, as I won't be doing a presentation. Thank you for your time otherwise, and sorry for your time aswell.
All I can think of is "shot down with a machine gun from a helicopter as if by Ted Nugent".
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closed account (E8A4Nwbp)
| "Nugatory"? |
| New-gat-tree of little value |
Sorry for the imbroglio. I make my bed and lie in it, quite a depressing idiom than holds so true.
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its more fun to make something up, though having the online dictionary guy read the word might be worth it for this one. They sound so serious.
closed account (E8A4Nwbp)
| its more fun to make something up |
I read "Nugatory" like nugget-ery xD. The spelling is deceiving and makes it look like a made-up word.