E-cigarettes still dangerous

[shootingstar]

http://eatreadscience.com/2015/02/13...enses/#more-97

Blogger has a PhD in science.
Sorry for dopey question, but does anyone know someone who has tried an e-cigarette??

[Crankin]

One of my close friends' sons (28) smokes them. They think it's better than actually smoking, but deep down, I think they know it's bad.
Quite a few of my clients have tried to use them to quit smoking, but it didn't work for any of them.

[shootingstar]

Without this article for the lst time, my reaction to e-cigarettes, is like my reaction to driverless cars of purpoted future: Whaattt? I hope driverless cars are never part of our permanent future. They need their own exclusive lane/road system!

By the way, Vancouver's transit Sky trains are driverless and have been for last few decades.

[Blueberry]

My reaction to this is "and water is wet." Yes, I have family members who smoke them. The same ones whose father died from smoking related emphysema.

I actually hope driverless cars are available in the near future. Their safety record is, thus far, far superior to the average human - and they don't get distracted by texting/phone/kids/makeup/etc. I haven't heard anything suggesting they are dangerous - have you?

[OakLeaf]

I haven't heard anything suggesting [driverless cars] are dangerous - have you?

Just a couple of weeks ago Elon Musk himself said the Tesla's driverless system is not safe for residential neighborhoods. Which to me, means it's even less safe for anywhere else, since the kinds of things you'll encounter in residential neighborhoods are less frequent, but more devastating, when they happen on freeways (cops getting out of their cars to cite someone/check on a wreck; debris or animals in the road; etc.)


As far as vaping ... the article Shootingstar linked to admitted that the vapor contains a tiny fraction of the free radicals of tobacco smoke. Is it perfectly safe - of course not; is it much safer than actual smoking - so says the article; is it safer than alcohol, probably ...

[OakLeaf]

Related to driverless cars, this op-ed on the role of airline pilots: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/10/op...stEmailed&_r=0

From one of the highlighted comments: "the fundamental role of a pilot is to exercise judgment." Something that AI is very far from being able to do in 2015. Do many drivers exhibit poor judgment, obviously they do, but I strongly believe that substituting no judgment in all cases for bad judgment in some cases, is a bad trade. Closely related to my opinion in the other thread, that conditioning cyclists NOT to follow the rules of the road, makes all modes of terrestrial transport more dangerous for everyone.

[Crankin]

Oak, I couldn't agree with you more. On Thursday, I saw a very old woman (she looked to be in her 80s), riding the wrong way in a residential neighborhood I was using as a cut through on my way home. This is a lovely place to ride, not a lot of cars. She was appropriately dressed, had a helmet, and 2 panniers on her bike. As I approached her, she stopped and pulled onto the grass. I wanted to say something, but I didn't. It was clear she had been shopping, this was just outside of the center of town. It frightens me to think how she was riding there, with lots of traffic, people getting off of the train, students crossing the street from the prep school that is there.

[smilingcat]

If the equipment was in good service and in good repair... Well I sure hate to have blue screen of death going down the freeway at 70MPH and there is rubbernecking ahead. I notice my cell phone keeps reformatting or re doing the indexes for the music. Some of the mp3 files on them have been corrupted. bad music with strange noise being generated is annoying but I hate to think of consequences if that should happen to an auto piloted car.

e-cigarettes, hmmm no smoke but what about the other stuff like nicotine. It's not just the tar.

[lph]

In norwegian there's a saying "when the best becomes the enemy of the good". Not sure what the English equivalent is. Not smoking is best, but e-cigarettes are still better than smoking regular cigarettes, in many ways. Like riding a bike is best, but riding a pedal-assist electric bike is a lot better than driving a car. But it's unfair to measure the "better" against the "best". Big transitions are hard, but smaller transitions can get you there too.