ciphergoth comments on Even if you have a nail, not all hammers are the same - Less Wrong

95 Post author: PhilGoetz 29 March 2010 06:09PM

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Comment author: sketerpot 30 March 2010 12:33:39AM 8 points [-]

They do the same kind of thing with ionizing radiation: a lot of organizations assume that the health effects of radiation are completely linear, even far below the range where we've been able to measure, despite the lack of evidence for this (and some evidence suggesting a J-shaped curve). Other organizations refuse to extrapolate to extremely low doses, citing the lack of evidence.

The issue is just way too politicized.

Comment author: ciphergoth 31 March 2010 03:52:49PM 4 points [-]

The fact that this assumption is made so explicit makes it much less problematic than the problem this article is talking about.