From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Wed May 30 2001 - 16:08:29 MDT
I tried looking up the oft-repeated story about the Manhattan Project and
the maybe-we'll-ignite-the-atmosphere possibility said to have been
raised. I can't find a reputable reference and I've wound up with the
following collection of assertions:
1) Fermi was the one who raised the possibility that an atomic bomb would
ignite the atmosphere;
2) Teller raised the possibility that a *fusion* bomb would ignite the
atmosphere;
3) The odds were set at three in one million (how? who?);
4) Bethe proved that ignition was impossible *before* the test;
5) Emil Konopinski proved that ignition was impossible *after* the test.
Does anyone know what the real story is, or have a reputable reference on
it?
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://intelligence.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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