unit5 suffering part 4a
TRANSCRIPT
Part 4: Human Cost
• Your goal:Be able to explain,
using examples, why suffering is sometimes deemed acceptable.
What is Human Cost?
• The impact of an event on people.• The price in suffering paid to achieve a goal.
Cost Benefit Analysis
Costs Benefits$12 ticketUnhealthy foodSunburnVomitSore feet$20 souvenir t-shirt$20 ride tickets
Fun with friendsGood foodLive showsFree exhibitsArtGoatsCarnival rides
Going to the State Fair
Acceptable Risk
• Understanding what suffering might result
• Deciding that the benefits outweigh the costs
The Nuclear Bomb
The United States ended World War II by dropping nuclear bombs on Japan.
•Where did this idea come from?•What is “nuclear”?•What were its effects?
Where did this idea come from?
•Decades of research in physics and chemistry•Not bomb development
It all came from the idea that matter can produce energy.
E=mc
E = mc², is based on the fact that the speed of light, c, is very fast and just a small amount of mass, m, can release large quantities of energy, E.
2
Physicists were leaving Europe.
OppenheimerAmericanEducated in Germany
SzilardHungarian JewCame to US in 1938
TellerHungarian JewCame to US in 1935
Why?
Physicists were leaving Europe.Why were such great physicists in Europe?
Why were they leaving?
Why?
Physicists were leaving Europe.Why were such great physicists in Europe?
Why were they leaving?
•Fascism•Communism•Anti-Semitism
Why?
US paid for research.Once it was shown to have the potential to be a significant weapon, the US was willing to spend lots of money on research.
It required LOTS of money, but …
•Some country will discover it soon.•It might be Nazi Germany.•We’d rather have it ourselves.
What is “nuclear”?This is an atom. All matter is made up of atoms.
This is a nucleus. Every atom has a very tiny nucleus.
What is “nuclear”?When an atom’s nucleus is hit, it breaks apart and sends out energy.
LOTS of energy
This nuclear fission can bea chain reaction.
What is “nuclear”?When an atom’s nucleus is hit, it breaks apart and sends out energy.
LOTS of energy
This is a nucleus. Every atom has a very tiny nucleus.
What is “nuclear”?We need energy for everything we do.
This is a great, clean way to do it!
Oh, … and it also makes a pretty powerful bomb
What is “nuclear”?Two incentives for developing nuclear fission:
•A country needs energy.•A country needs weapons.
What did we do?
In 1945, the US was planning an invasion of Japan: Operation Downfall
Starting in Okinawa, it would be long and it would be bloody.