What if health concerns had prevented the acceptance of cell phones?

When was the last time health concerns stopped humanity from seizing a new, useful, and profitable technology in both hands?
 
Nuclear power plants?

The specter of nuclear war, Chernobyl, and Jane Fonda will do that.

More seriously, nuclear power has more significant dangers, like storing the waste, which is something of a bottleneck. We don't have to put discarded cell phones in special dumps.
 
The specter of nuclear war, Chernobyl, and Jane Fonda will do that.

More seriously, nuclear power has more significant dangers, like storing the waste, which is something of a bottleneck. We don't have to put discarded cell phones in special dumps.

Hey, you asked for an example...

And cell phone batteries, like most batteries, really shouldn't be dumped with regular trash either. Don't get me started on what the AEC considers 'radioactive waste'.

Of course, even if the RF emissions were judged to be harmful, the manufacturers would just borrow the idea of shoulder mikes from public safety/ham portables. I carried a 5W portable for years as a medic and pretty much never pulled it off my hip. IIRC cell phones are about 0.5W. Unless there's a huge incidence of hip cancer in public safety professionals I'm unaware of I think that would be safe enough even for the state of California.
 
Hey, you asked for an example...
I did, I did. It just doesn't scan.
And cell phone batteries, like most batteries, really shouldn't be dumped with regular trash either. Don't get me started on what the AEC considers 'radioactive waste'.
No, probably not. Aren't cell phones one of those fun electronics they can tear apart to get out precious metals?

Of course, even if the RF emissions were judged to be harmful, the manufacturers would just borrow the idea of shoulder mikes from public safety/ham portables. I carried a 5W portable for years as a medic and pretty much never pulled it off my hip. IIRC cell phones are about 0.5W. Unless there's a huge incidence of hip cancer in public safety professionals I'm unaware of I think that would be safe enough even for the state of California.
Cancer takes time to develop. Unless we're talking about really massive exposure, it might take years for this stuff to start turning up, which is going to mean cell phones are going to be put down, not never picked up, broadly speaking. Harder to get people to stop using them than to prevent them from ever being used in the first place.

So now I know who to dispose of.;)

They'd probably just replace her. Who production team has to go.
 
Not even on a large scale?

I'm working off of memory here, but IIRC one problem is that you get so little out of any individual phone but you need a decent number of man-hours. The other problem is the incredible variation in types and construction methods, which makes automation or assembly-line processes impractical. Basically, you need to do a lot of sorting, all by hand, and all your sorters and dis-assembly people need to be retrained regularly to deal with new models.
 
It is really a problem of economy, when a short time advantage has long term consequences, my bet is on anyone that takes it...
Having no long term consequences is no gain if you are outcompeted (this applyes in economy but also in evolution) :cool:
 
To the OP. You mean like cigarettes and automobiles that didn't have things like seatbelts and airbags? Zepplins filled with hydrogen? Riders of motorcycles who don't use helmets? People who ride on boats and personal water craft without personal flotation devices? Silicone breast implants? Human beings have the capacity for ignoring the risks or gambling on them for any technology.

Torqumada
 
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