2 ms·
Overall a very interesting article. Still this line made me chuckle: "And it would disastrous if erroneous results were to have a major impact on public polic
by te_platt 18y ago
Overall a very interesting article. Still this line made me chuckle:
"And it would disastrous if erroneous results were to have a major impact on public policy."
This is probably one of the most routine occurrences in creating public policy. Maybe only superseded by misunderstanding scientific results (erroneous or not).
- michael_nielsen 18y agoI was thinking of things like the Y2K debacle (not really scientists who made the call there, of course). Or imagine the global cooling scare in the 1970s had had a major impact on public policy.
- hugh 18y agoIn what way was y2k a public policy issue? And was the "debacle" the bug itself or the over-reaction to it?
- michael_nielsen 18y agoA very incomplete summary of the public policy aspect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y2K#Government_responses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y2K#Government_responses You can find far more by Googling around. A large number of countries seemed to have mobilized resources, in many cases quite significant. As to your second question, I was thinking about the over-reaction.