General Tostada says:

I’ve noticed that people tend to be wary of electricity, I think it’s because it’s an invisible phenomenon that we weren’t evolved to experience. I suspect the fear of nuclear radiation is similar to that…maybe even more so. Seems like it all comes down to a crap shoot of intricate probabilities. How can anyone figure out what the true risk is? A hard thing to nail down if there ever was one, such that it depends on such numerous variable conditions at a miniscule scale.

As I understand it, alpha particles (such as those used in smoke detectors, say) have a very short emission range, and aren’t much of a hazard in everyday life…as long as you don’t ingest the substance that emits them. But if you do, you greatly increase chances of them damaging nearby tissue in the much denser biological environment thereof.

Ah, but what can we do, then? Shall we do our best to try to tame the Energy of Creation? (probably a long and hazardous trial-and-error journey with no assurance of success), or just give it up, because it’s just too strange and terrifying.

Or end up living in a grass hut with just a solar panel to keep your clock running (…only on sunny days, though).