Nerds' natural predators

[mindstalk]

FTL with relativity leading to time travel/acausality, and the economics of manned space flight and colonization. These subjects will drive a population of intelligent-seeming people to confident insanity, second-guessing of actual physicists, and refusal to do math.

I suppose tendency to unwarranted feelings of superiority, libertarianism, and global warming denial are also risks, but they're not so peculiar to nerds. Also I see them less where I hang out these days.

I'm not counting Enterprise vs. Star Destroyer type arguments; that's harmless fun. Silly pointless time-wasting fun, in my view these days, but not as alarming.

Comments

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

You know, it's not hard to dissuade people from doing math. Especially actual math, not just arithmetic.

I know nothing about the economics of space travel/colonization, but the oft-repeated chestnut about "spacefaring civilisations studying those that decided spacefaring would be too expensive the way we study Aztecs and Ancient Egyptians" always makes me wonder about where people get their confidence.

I coulda phrased that neater. Not today, alas.