Deep Impact

Am I the only one who isn't so keen on this idea? I know, I know, NASA hitting a comet to study its origins is great and wonderful in the name of science and knowledge. But am I being paranoid if I am a subscriber to the idea that curiosity killed the cat? Well, obviously at least one person thinks I'm a dimwitted peon:

"Some people think we ought to give it a try. Others are shocked at the idea of blowing up an innocent little comet that never did any harm to anyone. Converting a periodic comet (like Encke) into a mass of bomb plasma seems to them as bad as shooting a faithful old horse and selling it to a glue factory."

On that scale, comparatively speaking, the worst that will happen to Comet Tempel 1 on the Fourth of July is that we’ll give it a black eye.

I'm sorry, I know a lot of people who get angry over getting a black eye, much less a powerful, destructive comet. Has anyone over there read Ray Bradbury's The Sound of Thunder? Isn't that the story of the time traveler who removes a prehistoric butterfly and ends up destroying the planet and humankind as he knows it? I just think that when it comes to nature, there's just some things we shouldn't be messing around with.

But I'll still try to watch it tomorow night.