DISQUS

I know that most viewers of the Discovery Channel aren't scientists, Karen Elhyam, but that's the point. The people who do find this stuff interesting are usually drawn to science. Some of them will learn science as a career as a result. A lot of science isn't nice and cozy and pleasant. Dissection? Autopsies? Hazardous materials clean up? But ti's shows like this and CSI (which also, btw, trades on human suffering, e.g., murder, or is that somehow okay?) that get people interested in science. If you're not, fine, but don't dismiss the educational value.

Good for you, Hitori, that you don't rubberneck. I suspect you're a minority. But you can be damn sure the emergency services people are ogling. Ogling is the first step to helping. If you're not curious, you're uninvolved, disinterested.

You people seem awfully damned sheltered to me. You've never seen a race car wreck? Never seen a house burn down? Never wiped out on your bike? Even the Olympics has disasters. I think many of you are horrified by your own titillation.

Oh please. Exploding stuff where no one gets hurt is interesting but not useful. Those are planned explosions, demolitions. It's the unplanned, the accidental where we (unfortunate as it is) learn things. Ever watch that bridge in Washington State oscillate itself to death? Most of us would love to be insulated from fate, natural disasters, and human stupidity that causes accidents, but we're not. Most of us are just lucky. And we are all titillated by it that brush with death. Hello? Car wreck rubbernecking anyone? Not one of you has EVER done that? Sure it's horrible, but it also gives us a chance to say "there but for the grace of God or chance or whatever, go I. Phew. That was close! Maybe I should not be such a lead foot." I don't particularly like to watch people get hurt either, but the physics and chemistry of those accidents are fascinating and lead to better products and safety regulations. And it's part of the human drama. Nobody's making you watch it, either. This seems way less harmful to me than setting people up in made-up emotionally charged, Lord of the Flies situations to win money. That's actively hurting people.

This looks like a very cool project. Please let us know when the prints are done. I'd love to see them.