Would you give warning of an asteroid?

Im almost certain that the population of earth would not be told of an impending strike by an asteroid that has a high probability of impacting the earth. It would cause mass pannic, which is why our government would probably keep it from us.

i would like to hear if members of this board would tell the population, at the risk of creating chaos, or keep quiet?

Would you as an individual want to know?

Do you think their is a 'conspiracy' to keep the information of an impending strike to the planet quiet?

I would like to be told, but i can say i would not make the information public if i was in the know. The resulting panic would result in chaos which is no good for anyone!

You're being a hypocrite saying you would want to be told but you wouldn't make the information public if you were "in the know". Panic? Chaos? That's not good for anyone? Neither is an asteroid impact. But, ya know, some things are out of our control and you have to deal with it. I'd like to know and I would let others know. Not everybody would go running through the streets. Others, families, would spend the last days, weeks, whatever it is, together. Or, maybe there's some smart person out there that, just for the hell of it, came up with a plan that would work to destroy the asteroid or change it's course, but just never presented it to anybody. How will that plan be used if that person never finds out the asteroid is coming? You release it to the public, they have a right to know.

OK.....

I didn't quite mean it like that.

I WOULD want the government to tell me- which would just so happen to include everyone else- im not trying to single myself out for special treatment or anything here.

I just don't see the benefit to everyone maybe im not seeing this from the right angle but i think that that we would be told simply because it simply gives people a licence to give up.

If you were given 24 hours notice what good does it do? would you realy want to know you were about to die?

Lets make this simple.

This asteroid is going to wipe us all off the planet.
'They' have tried to knock it off target and failed.
Their are 24 hours left before impact.
You have just been given the choice wether to tell the world or not.

Personally i would want to be told and i think others should be to, for the simple fact that i would like to be with my loved ones,

who cares if there's caos, really if we are not going to make it then i would not worry about it,

then again things can suddenly change, i would at least prepare in case the impact was smaller or for some odd reason that where i was was missed,

It isn't exactly something you can hide, Amature Astronomers would find the asteroid eventually if not it would have probably been an armature astronomer who found it in the first place. Professional astronomers do very little sky watching these days. Its one of the reasons i don't believe 90% of space based conspiracy's because almost all discovery's in space are made by amatures not professionals.

if there were 24 hours left i'd just get super drunk and super high and have a bunch of fun before i died instead of crying about it.

Originally posted by manta

Lets make this simple.

This asteroid is going to wipe us all off the planet.
'They' have tried to knock it off target and failed.
Their are 24 hours left before impact.
You have just been given the choice wether to tell the world or not.

Absolutely yes. I would definitely want to know that my planet was going to be obliterated, that everyone that I knew was going to be killed. Yes, I would want to know.

Yes, as you stated, there probably would be panic. I can imagine that there would be a lot of cretins who would take their last day on earth and spend it looting, pillaging and burning. If getting a big screened plasma tv would make some folks happy on their last day on earth -- it's fine by me.

I just want to know so that I could take the time to spend with my family, to express my joy at having known my friends and to allow that last fateful day pass quietly. The worst thing, in my mind, is to NOT know. Damn it would suck if I ended up spending my last day on earth at work! Worse still would be agreeing to work overtime or something.

Like just everyone else here I'd like to be told so that my last hours could be spent with my loved ones.

We'd probably have one last big family dinner together. And make it a kind of "going away party" for all of us.

I think the fact is that it's not like it would be a sudden thing, that the people who first found out about it would find out just hours before it hit. I think the technology and manpower we have watching the skies would know quite a while in advance that there is an asteroid in a possible collision course with Earth. I think that the information would be put out very lightly, such as, "Scientists have recently discovered an asteroid [this many] miles away from Earth that is headed in our general direction. Sources say that although a collision with Earth is highly unlikely, they're keeping their telescopes' eyes fixed on it." Then a bunch of mumbo jumbo talk about what the government might be able to do if it was discovered that it would be on a collision course with us, if we had the technology and ability to deflect or destroy it. I personally would do just that, alert citizens that it's there and it's coming somewhere in the vicinity of Earth, but no conclusive statements on whether it was coming right for us or not. But like most things, it's not up to us:

"A scientific adviser to the United States government has suggested that
secrecy might be the best option if scientists were ever to discover
that a giant asteroid was on course to collide with Earth.
"

see: abob.libs.uga.edu...

You can also keep up to date on the chance of what was thought to be the tenth planet in our solar system but has been found to be an asteroid on a possible collision course with us, named "2004mn4", by visiting this website! AS of this moment there is a 1/26,000 chance that 2004mn4 will collide with Earth on Friday, April 13th, 2029: 2004mn4.info...

[edit on 15/11/06 by an3rkist]

Originally posted by an3rkist
I think the fact is that it's not like it would be a sudden thing, that the people who first found out about it would find out just hours before it hit. I think the technology and manpower we have watching the skies would know quite a while in advance that there is an asteroid in a possible collision course with Earth.

[edit on 15/11/06 by an3rkist]

That reminds me of one we missed.

www.jupiterscientific.org...

It sur[rises me that everyone would actualy want to know, i honestly though that some people would not.

Originally posted by manta
It sur[rises me that everyone would actualy want to know, i honestly though that some people would not.

I think that people say they would want to know because if they didn't they would be going against the motto of this website. This brings up an interesting point about whether if some big conspiracies really are going on would the general public really want to know? Everyone says they wanna know, but aren't most people just happier being ignorant and going on with their lives? Same goes with the asteroid thing. People don't want to believe that they enjoy ignorance, but when it all comes down to it ignorance keeps them from going crazy.

Originally posted by manta
This asteroid is going to wipe us all off the planet.
'They' have tried to knock it off target and failed.
Their are 24 hours left before impact.
You have just been given the choice wether to tell the world or not.

Would 'they' be able to keep quiet an attempt to knock it off target? Wouldn't 'they' want the publicity of being the people to save the planet? If there was a real risk wouldn't 'they' have plans A-Z and beyond to divert the asteroid, not just a one-off attempt like Hollywood would have us believe.

Say your hypothetical case is what we have to go on, I'd want to know, but I'd go get myself ALOT of supplies and safely in an underground bunker with my family and friends before I told the world, it'd just spark anarchy.

The Friday 13th date for 2004mn4 sounds a bit bogus, but who knows...

Say your hypothetical case is what we have to go on, I'd want to know, but I'd go get myself ALOT of supplies and safely in an underground bunker with my family and friends before I told the world, it'd just spark anarchy.

probably the same as all the world leaders would do. You know. Just in case their is a need for government after the strike is not quite as big as predicted.

The Friday 13th date for 2004mn4 sounds a bit bogus, but who knows...

Yeah it has a smell to it but it would be apt if it did happen then, maybe god has a sense of humor?

Of course I'd tell everyone the information. People have a right to know what is going to happen to them. MANY people on this planet have religious beliefs and they have a right to their final prayers, final confessions to God, and to be with their families.

Screw the possible chaos, looting, whatever. People have a right to know.

Originally posted by manta
Lets make this simple.

This asteroid is going to wipe us all off the planet.
'They' have tried to knock it off target and failed.
Their are 24 hours left before impact.
You have just been given the choice wether to tell the world or not.

Unworkable scenario. At that point everyone would know, anyway. Backyard astronomers would have been following it for months and would have raised the alarm long before a "24 hour deadline."

yeah i thought about that as i was posting, i was trying to keep it simple lol.

Try and play the game plz.

If I were in a relevant position of authority, I would decide based on the severity of the impact.

If it were just a puny little pebble that would could level a city but leave the rest of the planet unscathed, I would go public.

But if it were a Global Killer, I would try to keep it under wraps for as long as possible. Then when public knowledge could no longer be avoided (or it was leaked), immediately declare Martial Law and try to keep things together for as long as possible.

Incorporate the aspect of a possible intervention however you like.