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Comment by CamperBob2 | Hacker News Reader

“It’d be wrong of us to forget that we dropped 23 atomic bombs on a coral reef to see what would happen, displaced all those people and created scars on the planet that will never heal,” he says. “Can we please not forget what we did here?”

Of course, the whole article amounts to a description of how the island has healed, but let's not let that get in the way of a good finger-wagging exercise.

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"Of course, the whole article amounts to a description of how the island has healed"

While life has continued there it's more because of the absence of humans. And likely despite the radiation which makes the island inhospitable for humans. I wouldn't say 'healed' is the way to describe a place that continues to have poisoned water and food for decades to come.

It's important to say that though. Public research findings, and public statements concerning anything political, tend to downplay the initial effects of very bad decisions, to sort of wash it under the radar. When it comes to nuclear testing it is especially important that such bad decisions are at the forefront of analysis, even when something good is discovered. It is possible to derive something helpful from every terrible situation, which is why we can learn from them, but to learn we must be aware of the context of the mistake.

This "finger wagging" is chronic in any article related to some kind of environmental change made by people. There's really no disaster here. Far more nuclear bombs were exploded in California. Far more rocks and soil were disturbed for construction, land reclamation, mining, canal digging, farming, etc. all over the world. There's nothing sacred about the ground which says we should feel sad or shameful about modifying it. I would say blowing up some islands just to see what would happen is fantastic for both fun and science.

People displaced? Being displaced isn't, on its own, a tragedy. I'm sure those islanders didn't become some stateless, homeless street urchins. They probably did just fine in their new home. I will probably never be able to live in my childhood neighborhood because I've been priced out of the property market. That's a common story, but so what? I have no complaints at all about it and wouldn't want to suppress other people's economic activity just so I can feel familiar about my surroundings.

If people experience it as a tragedy then it is a tragedy. Just because something isn't bad in some situations does not mean that it is ok in all situations.

In this case, it turns out the relocation did cause problems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing_at_Bikini_Atol...

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