4 ms·

I suppose we should be glad that most of these "terrorists" are incompetent fools, that means that the competent people of even the die-hard radicals have decid

by m_eiman 14y ago

I suppose we should be glad that most of these "terrorists" are incompetent fools, that means that the competent people of even the die-hard radicals have decided that there are better things to do than blow people up; hopefully something a bit more productive.

Symmetry 14y ago
Humans are nearly universally bad at doing things they've never done before and never seen someone do before. Experience and institutional experience are really important in doing anything effectively, and tacit knowledge is often hard to convey in training videos. The perpetrators here don't seem to be particularly smart or brave, but I don't see any reason to think they were particularly dumb either.
- m_eiman 14y ago
  I didn't say that they were dumb, I said that they were incompetent fools. Incompetent for not managing to cause more destruction, fools for not escaping when they had the chance. It's quite likely that I would be a bad terrorist too, but I would at least study the effects of explosives and explosions and how to maximize the result before trying to use them. It's not like there's not a lot of research in the area, given that it's been a priority for the world's armed forces since forever.
  - Symmetry 14y ago
    They did study the effects of explosives and explosions and they did pretty well given the constraints they were working under. It's very hard to get access to high explosives without the FBI nabbing you, and trying to make them from scratch without a chemistry degree is a recipe for blowing yourself up or having them fizzle like the Time Square Bomber's. The US isn't like Iraq where you can buy an artillery shell from a looted depot for $5.
    - m_eiman 14y ago
      I was actually thinking of the placement of the bombs. Putting them on the ground in a crowd means that the people nearest the explosion will act as shields for those further away.

by m_eiman 14y ago

Symmetry 14y ago

Humans are nearly universally bad at doing things they've never done before and never seen someone do before. Experience and institutional experience are really important in doing anything effectively, and tacit knowledge is often hard to convey in training videos. The perpetrators here don't seem to be particularly smart or brave, but I don't see any reason to think they were particularly dumb either.

m_eiman 14y ago
I didn't say that they were dumb, I said that they were incompetent fools. Incompetent for not managing to cause more destruction, fools for not escaping when they had the chance. It's quite likely that I would be a bad terrorist too, but I would at least study the effects of explosives and explosions and how to maximize the result before trying to use them. It's not like there's not a lot of research in the area, given that it's been a priority for the world's armed forces since forever.
- Symmetry 14y ago
  They did study the effects of explosives and explosions and they did pretty well given the constraints they were working under. It's very hard to get access to high explosives without the FBI nabbing you, and trying to make them from scratch without a chemistry degree is a recipe for blowing yourself up or having them fizzle like the Time Square Bomber's. The US isn't like Iraq where you can buy an artillery shell from a looted depot for $5.
  - m_eiman 14y ago
    I was actually thinking of the placement of the bombs. Putting them on the ground in a crowd means that the people nearest the explosion will act as shields for those further away.