On 29/07/14 14:17, Postmark wrote:
> How many people will it carry?

And if the answer to that question isn't "Everybody":

"Who gets to choose who goes and who dies?"
"By what criteria are they going to choose?"
"What gives them the right to make that choice?"
"What plans do you have to cope with the inevitable mass rioting, if not
outright warfare, that will be the result of your announcement?"

I've always thought that, of the many plot holes in 'Deep Impact' that
one was the worst.  In this kind of situation, you do *not* get the
president on the telly telling everyone they're going to die, except for
the lucky few who will be given full publicity.  You *possibly* tell
everybody that there's an extinction level event coming, but then you
spirit away the chosen few in secret, because if you tell the general
populace that there's a way out for *some* of them, then at best you are
going to get a total breakdown of society and, at worst, you're going to
end up with the masses destroying the means of escape/survival as they
fight to get in.

In general, people are *not* altruistic.  When the chips are down,
they're selfish little <expletive deleted>

David Shaw