The US going metric

[Primal Conundrum]

Can you? Yes. Should you? Yes. Will you?

...For your sake, I hope so.

[Je Nique vos Merdiers]

God Emperor Akhenaton

Let me put it this way. Not using the Metric system is dangerous.

And costly.

[Skyburn]

Should we? Yes. It makes a lot of things more simple. Physics, in metric, is wonderful. In imperial, a nightmare by comparison.

Do we need to? Not really.
Would it be easy or cheap to convert? No.
It would take quite a long time - as in, you have to actually start manufacturing everything in metric vice imperial. It would take over a decade.
Any company making anything would have to adjust their assembly lines and obtain entirely new molds.
The question being whether or not the convenience outweighs the cost. That's mostly what it is - convenience.

[Mooby the Golden Sock]

The thing that everyone seems to forget in the US customary/metric argument is that most countries are hybrid. For instance, the UK still uses pint glasses and does weight in stone, despite being a "metric" country. And the US sells some drinks in liters, holds races in meters, and trades stocks in decimals, despite being a "not metric" country. We just lean a little further away from metric than most other countries.

[shinigami ryukie]

The only thing I dislike about metrics is the tempurates. I'm gonna wind up using it for my future job, so I could care less if others learn it.

[Yukienesa]

It'd be easiest if they started by teaching it in schools. It'd be simpler for kids to learn, too, being based on a small, round number like 10, as opposed to the whimsy of imperial. Sure it would take a bit before actual change began to occur, but change doesn't happen overnight, especially where most of the adult population is concerned.

[Michael Noire]

The English system has advantages the Metric System does not. For example, it is inherently more native in Binary and Hexadecimal. The English system is also stronger in fractions than decimals. How children develop in these two systems intellectually is different, but those differences are collectively complimentary. Having some scientists better at fractions and intuitive understanding of values like 32x32=1024 and knowing what 1/64 is - this is an advantage. Being able to convert rapidly between the two systems also helps these kids understand natively different mathematical and linguistic paradigms by analogy.

I've heard there are Sanskrit rhymes that act as mathematical operators, that there are Hanzi for derivatives and integrals; that Hebrew and Greek are both numbers and letters. I think if anything, children should learn more systems, not less.

[PikachuBaller]

You guys should switch.
Canada laughs at you, and your dumb imperial system.

[Spiritual Machine]

I can use either, so it doesn't really matter to me, but you are not going to convince a carpenter that has been building houses for 20 years that he needs to stop using feet and inches and use meters and centimeters, it's just not going to happen.

[Touching Hair]

Here in Britain we use both metric and imperial measurements and it seems to work just fine with the majority of people apposing the complete conversion to the metric system.

Which is easier to say, an inch or 2.5 centimeters? They both have their uses and completely abandoning all imperial measurements would be detrimental.

[Fermionic]

The metric system is superior in every way, it would be only good to change.

[Suicidesoldier#1]

Commies. ninja

[chainmailleman]

The rose in spring

I don't see why not. It's a lot more simple. The problem is transition.

Precisely.

How many machine shops and mechanic shops are there in America? How much money would it cost to convert English to Metric tools, machines, and fasteners?

In the end, it's just too costly to be practical.

[The rose in spring]

chainmailleman

The rose in spring

I don't see why not. It's a lot more simple. The problem is transition.

Precisely.

How many machine shops and mechanic shops are there in America? How much money would it cost to convert English to Metric tools, machines, and fasteners?

In the end, it's just too costly to be practical.

Well good news for that is that soon there will be no machine shops in America. In the ned, we will go metric because already it's too costly.

[Fe1ix]

How exactly would the metric system cost the U.S if they adapt to it? It doesn't make any sense.