One way to push the U.S. toward metric right now

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It appears one big reason the conversion attempt in the 1970s failed was because there was too much emphasis on conversion formulas between customary and metric, which over-complicates things. Instead, when we convert, we should just switch to straight up metric and use conversion formulas only when absolutely necessary. The best way to learn metric is to get a feel for metric units, to have that intuition of the approximate weight or measure of something, and you do that by using it without relying on a customary crutch:

Theres also the Mars Climate Orbiter which was lost due to a discrepancy in units being used between Lockheed Martin and NASA. It was a $125 million dollar mistake.

It doesn't matter how much better you think it is if people don't want to change, if it was too much of a disruption then Americans would simply vote to get rid of it. There has to be a benefit to regular people otherwise they're going to tell you to pound sand, they don't care if it's used in STEM. Last year Rasmussen asked the question and put it a t 21% supporting metrication, 64% opposing, 15% undecided. Trying to force a change would result in a major backlash, I think the push in the 70s is a big reason why 64% oppose is so high so to go even further with that line of thinking definitely wouldn't work. Should we have metric time and the decabet too? There's no legal way for the US to mandate the metric system either. There has to be an incentive or a tangible benefit, find the dollar amount or tell us how many jobs it would produce. If it can't provide a benefit to 95% of Americans then they won't do it.

Also not sure I buy that teaching both makes them weaker at both, that was what was thought originally with language but we now know that isn't true and the brain benefits from bilingualism. Perhaps the US should put more pressure on it's partners to adopt our system of measurement, we have the biggest economy in the world and the most influential culture so it wouldn't be too hard. I know the UK is sort of wavering a bit now that they've voted to leave the EU.

I likened it to bilingualism since the accepted belief at one time was that it was detrimental to ones development for the same reasons you listed but brain studies have shown that not to be true so it would seem logical that someone fluent in both metric and customary could have the same benefits. It's just another language is it not? I don't know if anybody has done a study on the brains of people that fluent in both and those that only know one, I think it would be interesting.

As for why we should pressure other countries to adopt our form of weights and measurements, I don't know because they put pressure on us to learn theirs? Perhaps some reciprocation is in order on their end. Customary units are preferable for a lot of things, it's not going away and I don't know why people want to damn it to the dustbin of history. What about diversity? I don't see why STEM and medicine have to determine everything we do, the evidence shows that people will use metric for things where it has a better utility such as in those areas.

I think the problem is that American public education is so garbage that they can't teach anything well let alone metric.

So far the discussion has been on an intellectual level. Perhaps we need to look at this subject from a practical point of view??? Perhaps we can just look at light bulbs, something everyone is familiar with.

If we adopt metrics we'll find a metric light bulb won't screw into my bedside lamp. So now I either have to replace ALL the light fixtures in my home (including those in my flashlight and refrigerator, etc.), or buy a special adapter to try to fit the new bulbs in place. What's that you say? Just use both systems until the original fixture or appliance wears out (?)....my lamps, flashlights, (and etc.) won't wear out for many many years...will suppliers have to stock dual parts for decades? What about people who can't afford to go out and buy new items???

In the above example I've barely touched the subject of light bulbs and already there's a problem. And this is one of the tiniest and and simplest examples...imagine doing this with almost everything in your sight...it's unbelievably huge, and for those who can't grasp large numbers, perhaps look up at the stars at night for a comparison.

I don't know if anyone has determined the cost to change but it would be billions and billions. Instead let's do due diligence by making sure the kids in school today know how to convert and become familiar with conversions to avoid errors, and increase training and testing for people in health fields This was done in the '50s and again in the '70s when there was a push for metrics so there's no reason this can't be taught in classrooms today (or perhaps it already is).

The ability to understand and use different types of language in measurement is the same as learning two different spoken languages; it affects the user positively. If this were not the case we'd probably all be speaking Esperanto, but since we're not this bears out the decision by most people to avoid change unless there is an overriding positive benefit in sight, which in this situation, there is not, only huge added expense.

that kind of thing has to be gradual. it takes generations and coordinated planning. it has to be consistent (or else the transition doesn't happen), but it can't be aggressive (or else there will be too much resistence). if it can't be consistent nationwide and in the long term (and patriotism in the u.s. does seem like a very significant obstacle to that), and if nobody is willing to implement a long-term plan (which nobody these days seems to care about, especially considering that politicians won't want to irk the patriotic crowd), then i think it's very unlikely that it's going to happen anytime soon, no matter what

conversion itself is very easy these days. you don't even need an app, just plain google. just google 4 in in cm and you get the answer right away. the real problem (besides near-total incompatibility between the two systems when it comes to tools and parts that require precision) is the intuitive feel, which does matter. and it's hard to learn if you're not a kid anymore

luckily the most important american unit (the inch) is pretty easy. very close to 2.5cm (exactly 2.54, when precision matters. still easy to remember). so, roughly, 4" = 10cm. other units get trickier, but inches are really the only american unit we do need to work with down south here in the other america (piping of all types, in particular, is all measured in inches afaik). for quick mental conversions just to get a rough estimate (like when watching an american movie or something), there are reasonable shortcuts. 3 feet = 1 yard ~ 1 meter, 2 pounds ~ 1 kilogram, 1 ton ~ 1 tonne, 2 fahrenheit up/down ~ 1 celsius up/down (all of these are closer to 0.9 for some reason, but rounding it up to 1 is usually good enough). and 2 miles ~ 3 kilometers

ounces and gallons though, i have no idea (it's pretty neat that 1 liter of water weighs exactly 1 kilogram. it can really come in handy sometimes). people's heights get very tricky to picture mentally (because small differences matter, and it's feet and inches combined). i just know that under 5 feet means "very short" and above 6 feet means "tall". absolute temperatures... i don't even try. i just know that f and c meet somewhere around -40, 0c (freezing point) is somewhere around 30f, standard room temperature (slightly above 20c) is somewhere around 70f, and 100f means "extremely hot weather" (somewhere around 40c). but if i want a number, i google it (because, like with people's heights, small differences usually matter)

there are actually some pre-metric units still in use here too (curiously, the symbol for one of them is @, so the name of that unit survives in popular usage as the name of that character in email addresses, which has no other usage or meaning in my language. in italian it's called a "snail" instead. cute! lol). but those units are totally obscure for anyone who doesn't work with cattle or crops (and they're probably falling out of use by now). sometimes people use informal pseudo-units like "fingers" (the width of an index finger), but i don't think there ever was a standard for those

another curious thing: did you guys know that the word "billion" actually means "trillion" in most countries? in my country it does mean a billion though. and it seems like the american meaning is gradually taking over globally (it has already been established as standard in the u.k.). i knew that there were places where it meant a trillion, but until a couple weeks ago i thought those places were the exception. in a few decades they probably will be, but so far they're not. so in most of europe, there are no billionaires. only "thousand-millionaires" or "milliardaires" instead. freaky

Hi ZenDen,

My evidence is incidents like that below.

And this:

And this:

(See the last 3 posts on page 6.)

So show us your evidence, ZenDen, or are we supposed to depend solely on your word?