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. In certain circumstances, nothing could be done to avoid such a collision and ensuing destruction, and it would be best not to tell the public anything, said Geoffrey Sommer, of the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California.
The public should not be told if scientists detect a huge asteroid on a collision course with Earth that cannot be deflected, a disaster expert said. Geoff Sommer, of the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California, said that governments would be wrong to warn of an impending impact that could destroy all life if there was no realistic prospect of stopping it. The panic, misery and disruption that such a warning would cause would not be worthwhile, he told the association.
Just when you thought we had learned our lessons from past communication debacles and PR fiascoes, bizarre statements at the Denver AAAS meeting have plunged the NEO community into another crisis of credibility. "Don't tell Public of Doomsday Asteroid", reads the headline in today's The Times, while The Independent warns: "Armageddon Asteroids best kept secret." The Internet (Drudge Report, etc.) and fringe websites are already brimming with gloating links to this asteroid-cover-up story while doomsday prophets and conspiracy-theorists can't believe their good fortune: "We've told you so!"&
