{"id":1030,"date":"2010-06-15T16:38:50","date_gmt":"2010-06-15T15:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/?p=1030"},"modified":"2013-03-01T00:45:59","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T22:45:59","slug":"we-do-not-need-nuclear-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/2010\/06\/15\/we-do-not-need-nuclear-power\/","title":{"rendered":"We do not need nuclear power"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/em><\/address>\n
By Michael Karnerfors, 2010-06-15<\/em><\/address>\n

A common argument against nuclear power is this:<\/p>\n

“We don’t actually need nuclear power, because we could potentially<\/em> use other clean sources of energy”.<\/p>\n

I am not going to argue against that particular statement, because it is true. We could potentially<\/em> rid ourselves of nuclear power and have clean energy from other sources.<\/p>\n

There are a few implications and practical matters that must be addressed though. So let’s take this kind of reasoning a few steps further. What other areas is this statement true for? What more could we potentially<\/em> be without?<\/p>\n

\"Not
Do we actually need any of these?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seat belts<\/h3>\n

We could potentially<\/em> be without seat belts. Seat belts<\/a> in cars restrict our movement and freedom. We wouldn’t need them if it wasn’t for\u00a0accidents that happen. If we make sure no accidents happen we will not need seat belts. This is potentially <\/em>possible to achieve, by training all drivers to drive safe and perfect, and restricting the maximum speed for car travel to 20 kph\/15 mph.<\/p>\n

Vaccines<\/h3>\n

We could potentially<\/em> be without vaccines<\/a>. Mankind obviously made it all the way to the 19th century without vaccines, so saying we need them to survive as a species obviously isn’t true. Now some people may say that getting sick is unacceptable and we need to prevent certain illnesses such as polio<\/a>, measles<\/a>, meningitis<\/a>,\u00a0and HIV\/AIDS<\/a>. But this need may potentially<\/em> still be fulfilled by other means, such as restricting travel between administrative regions, using facemasks\u00a0and condoms at all times,\u00a0and to quarantine any person that can be suspected to be a carrier of an illness.<\/p>\n

Laws<\/h3>\n

We could potentially <\/em>be without laws. All we need to do is train every citizen to be a good and honest person. Since some persons go through an entire life without acting morally reprehensible it is potentially <\/em>possible for all 7 billion persons of the world to do it. We don’t actually need laws, law enforcement, courts, and correctional facilities because it would be so much better if people just didn’t commit crimes.<\/p>\n

Checks and Balances, Freedom of Speech<\/h3>\n

We could potentially<\/em> do fine without checks and balances<\/a>, or without freedom of speech<\/a>. All we have to do is make sure that the government does everything we need without having to check up on it, or protest against it when it does something we don’t like. It would be so much better if the government was perfect to begin with.<\/p>\n

…and so on.<\/h3>\n

The examples could go on. When looking at things bare and naked, we only actually need<\/strong>…<\/p>\n