From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Thu May 31 2001 - 00:45:16 MDT
"Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
> Sadly, I don't own this book - so what *is* the story?
Perhaps I shall send ya home with it, as a souvenier from E5.
Somehow it seems fitting that the man who is working on the
seed AI should own a copy of the book that contains this
particular story.
> Who did the
> calculations, is the number "three in one million" real, was it before or
> after the first test, and who demonstrated that igniting the atmosphere
> was physically impossible afterwards? Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
Rhodes does not mention the probability of 3 ppm. He does
devote a page and a half to the story however. Bethe examined
the possibility and calculated the energy level to ignite the atmosphere.
Quoting from the Rhodes' book, p.418:
...Teller offered several [possible reactions] which a fission bomb
or a Super [fusion bomb] might inadvertently trigger. He proposed
to the assembled luminaries the possibility that their bombs might
ignite the earth's oceans or its atmosphere and burn up the world,
the very result Hitler occasionally joked about with Albert Speer.
[That Hitler, he was a real knee slapper when he got to joking
about incinerating the world. sj]
oops outta time, will finish this saga tomorrow. spike
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