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I believe that nuclear power is much safer and less destructive to the environment than mining and burning coal(for example). But when Tokyo Power sought to bu
by dmm 14y ago
I believe that nuclear power is much safer and less destructive to the environment than mining and burning coal(for example).
But when Tokyo Power sought to build the nuclear plant at Ōkuma I guarantee you they didn't tell people, "this will totally kill fewer people than a coal plant would". They promised absolute safety. The Japanese nuclear regulatory agency didn't promise fewer deaths than the equivalent coal plant. They promised 1 death every million years.
Nuclear power makes huge promises and when it fails to live up to them it tries to change the standard by which it's judged.
- tptacek 14y agoDo you get the sense that Taleb disagrees with that first sentence? I do.
- dmm 14y agoI think his point is the continual failure of humans to estimate risks involving complex phenomenon, not specifically about the appropriateness of nuclear power. Taleb seems to greatly respect empirical evidence as opposed to models and theories. If you presented him with the evidence that fossil fuel power plants kill thousands per year versus the deaths caused by nuclear power, I imagine it would go a long way towards convincing him that nuclear power was better.