Some of the craziest arguments on the campfire show up in these metrics vs English threads.
The thought that our success as a nation is somehow due in whole or part to our system of measurement is beyond absurd. If anything, it’s retarded our growth.
Some claim to hate the metric system. What is there to hate? That makes just a little less sense than hating a particular caliber rifle. What they’re saying is they don’t understand it and are afraid to try.
When I was doing my tool and die apprenticeship in the early’70’s we took a shot at it...like now, fear reared its ugly head and you heard all sorts of completely irrational, fear-driven arguments against it. Part of the problem was the fact that.gov and industry focused on conversion and tried going soft metric. That resulted in a Charlie Foxtrot and killed it.
Today, all my personal tools are in English units but I have metric stuff available when necessary. The coordinate measuring machine I use can go either way, but I don’t think it’s been used in English since we’ve had it. The CNC stuff and all the electronic metrology stuff converts as necessary.
The real objections to metric are fear and intellectual laziness.
