DoktorL

You also cannot directly compare a metro line to intercity rail. That line in Tokyo was like what, 20th they built all in the same terrain, they are really good at this by now. Meanwhile, rail tunnels are usually bespoke projects.

> Going up is the comparatively easy part, it's not exactly rocket science.

Some would argue is quite literally rocket science, even if suborbital rockets are much simpler, like they can just burn solid fuel.

But there was a war, wasn't there? So why not admit that 8000-year-old myth can have got "the rocks went flying" part right.

Written accounts are still vastly superior to oral tradition of course, their accuracy is on another level. But that doesn't mean there is absolutely nothing to glimpse from old myths.

> E.g. "By repeating the process enough times, the probability that you never catch me becomes smaller than, say, getting struck by lightning" doesn't seem to show it's a proof?

That's fine though, because the point isn't really to publish math papers without disclosing proofs. For example, presenting a valid digital signature is sometimes colloquially called a proof that you had the private key, even though there is 1 in gazillion chance that you didn't. For such practical tasks, very high chance tends to be good enough.

Electric scooters and such do create a new danger that didn't exist before: they let (indeed, encourage) you to take the hazardous part (the battery) inside an apartment to "refuel". An equivalent would be bringing a gas-driven moped into your place which is against the rules in many places, and why would you do it anyway.

As such, it's important to take all possible reasonable steps to mitigate the risk. Those vehicles are still great overall, if only because, between air quality problems and exacerbated extreme weather events, fossil fuels cause deaths, injuries and property damage just through their normal usage. But the danger is there, and needs to be considered.