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> The fact that bad people can occasionally benefit from something isn't a reason to not give it to the rest of us. It actually can be. There's a continuum. A
by NateEag 5y ago
> The fact that bad people can occasionally benefit from something isn't a reason to not give it to the rest of us.
It actually can be. There's a continuum.
At one extreme are things like plans for nuclear or biological weapons. Nobody distributes those because terrorists really want them for horrible ends and they're of low utility, so we do without them.
At the other extreme are things like junk mail - we all just put up with that minor abuse of the system because having a cheap, flexible mail system is way better than not having junk mail.
Like I said, it's a spectrum, and sometimes bad people being able to abuse something is a good reason for everyone to forgo it.
- josephcsible 5y ago> At one extreme are things like plans for nuclear or biological weapons. Nobody distributes those because terrorists really want them for horrible ends and they're of low utility, so we do without them. My understanding is that how to build nuclear weapons is relatively well-known, and the only reason that terrorist groups don't have them is that they can't get their hands on the required raw materials.
- ryathal 5y agobuilding a weapon that goes boom from hitting critical mass of uranium/other radioactive element is pretty straight forward. Getting enough uranium is one of the hard parts, but it's not the only hard part. getting a nuke somewhere without being stopped is pretty difficult too. sure you can put it in the back of a pickup and blow it up somewhere, but hiding the radiation of that bomb while you travel/assemble isn't easy. Building a rocket is difficult for nations.
- NateEag 5y agoYes, I believe you're right about that, but I believe it's still the case that no one just distributes the plans. You have to learn engineering and nuclear physics then design your weapon yourself.