Reading about which makes and models of cell phones may "correlate" to risk of brain cancer (on Slashdot).
I speak on my cell phone while warming coffee in a microwave oven. This is exposing me to two technologies. I wish to assume the microwave oven is not cooking me, and to assume the cell phone is not giving me cancer. I'll never be around long enough to learn whether the two in combination have some effect, or whether either, in a small dose, is beneficial. Most things in life are actually beneficial in small doses but harmful in large (red wine, iron, water, solar radiation). There may be a "correct dose" of cell phone use which, in combination with microwave oven use, actually reduces brain cancer...
Too late - my cognitive risk assessment lobe has been tripped.
It's part of the human industrial cycle... Use of the word "cancer" in conjunction with any common household appliance (cell phone, microwave, "e-waste", etc) will generate headlines and readership, due to human cognitive bias which equates change (technology) with risk.
I speak on my cell phone while warming coffee in a microwave oven. This is exposing me to two technologies. I wish to assume the microwave oven is not cooking me, and to assume the cell phone is not giving me cancer. I'll never be around long enough to learn whether the two in combination have some effect, or whether either, in a small dose, is beneficial. Most things in life are actually beneficial in small doses but harmful in large (red wine, iron, water, solar radiation). There may be a "correct dose" of cell phone use which, in combination with microwave oven use, actually reduces brain cancer...Too late - my cognitive risk assessment lobe has been tripped.
It's part of the human industrial cycle... Use of the word "cancer" in conjunction with any common household appliance (cell phone, microwave, "e-waste", etc) will generate headlines and readership, due to human cognitive bias which equates change (technology) with risk.
"Cognitive bias is a general term that is used to describe many observer effects in the human mind, some of which can lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, or illogical interpretation." [wikipedia]
