The United States Should Adapt the Metric System as its Official System of Weights and Measures

Con's whole argument is just copied from its original source, but I'll respond anyways as I set no official rule against it. I also meant for the first round to be acceptance only, but forgot the word "only", so I'll let that slide. The fundamental problem with Con's argument is that it's void of any real argument. Con makes a lot of assertions, but fails to properly frame them into arguments. A few bare assertions made were that going metric would make it easier for companies to ship jobs overseas and that it would cost billions of dollars. If Con provides evidence to these points, I will have the chance to respond, but as of right now, there is absolutely zero proof that this would be the case. Con's argument alludes to the idea that switching to the metric system would be destroying a piece of heritage. However, Con does not give any reason why we should care, just implies that if we care about the death of ancient languages and dialects, then we should care about the US switching to the metric system. Con then makes an argument that decimals are difficult to deal with in real life, giving two examples: taking one third and one quarter of a number. Con argues that because one third of a foot is 4 inches and a quarter of a foot is 3 inches, while one third of a meter is 0.33... centimeters and a quarter of a meter is 25 centimeters, the imperial system is superior to use in daily life. However, one can just as easily say "one third of a meter" or "one quarter of a meter", it would be a very simple adjustment. Moreover, Con says "Try cutting an orange or a pizza into five or ten slices". However, this is totally irrelevant, seeing as oranges and pizzas typically don't have one foot or one meter radii. And as a side note, it's not uncommon to see either of those cut into 5 pieces and pizzas are often cut into ten slices as well. Finally, Con argues that having two units of measurements shows people that things can be conceived of in many different ways. However, this depends upon the assumption that having the US adapt the metric system as its official system of measurement would kill the Imperial System. There's no reason to assume that would be true. In fact, both Canada and Britain often use Imperial Units, despite having the metric system as their official system of measurement. However, even if we assume this would mark the death of the Imperial System the argument still is not substantial enough as Con does not provide any reason as to why seeing "distance, weight, and volume" from multiple perspectives is useful. So, why should the United States adapt the metric system? I will focus on three main reasons; it is the international standard, it's an easier system to use, and it's used in science and medicine. The metric system is used as the official system of measurement in every country except: the US, Burma, and Liberia. [1] Being the only major country not using it, emphasizing the Imperial System over the Metric System brings about many problems for both America and the rest of the world. These problems will only continue to be highlighted as the world becomes more integrated. One example of how this could provide a problem is via tourism, both inward and outward. Many Americans travel to other countries and many people around the world visit the US and failure to emphasize the metric system can lead to stark confusion when reading local temperatures (Fahrenheit vs. Celsius), speed limits (mph vs. km/h), and media. Also, anytime an American is consuming any international media whether it be watching the Olympics, playing a foreign game, watching a foreign TV show, reading a foreign newspaper, etc. the measurements will be in the metric system, which once again will bring confusion to those not familiar with the metric system. Seeing as the world is becoming more and more integrated it makes less sense to not have an international standard, or else people will continue to be confused. However, failure to follow the international standard can also provide larger problems. For one, when conducting business internationally, the metric system will likely be emphasized as it is the world's system of measurement, which will once again provide problems for Americans. For example, businesses will be ridden with extra costs with ensuring data is given in the Imperial System, such as car companies having to make an American specific model with a speedometer in miles per hour. Finally, the need to make frequent conversions can also lead to confusion. A famous example of this was when NASA lost a probe because they had assumed a reading in Newton-Seconds was done in Foot-Seconds. [2] Overall, there is no benefit in not following the international system of measurement, but various problems. Another reason the US should switch to the metric system is that it is a much easier system to use. The most commonly explained version is that it is easier to convert between units. For example, when measuring distance, conversions in Imperial are: -12 Inches in a Foot -3 Feet in a Yard -36 Inches in a Yard -5,280 Feet in a Mile Whereas in Metric, some are: -1000 Millimeters in a Meter -10 Millimeters in a Centimeter -100 Centimeters in a Meter -1000 Meters in a Kilometer All metric conversions are base 10. They make use of prefixes which are the same for all units such as the "kilo" (1000), the "milli" (1/1000), and the centi (1/100). By using multiples of 10, it is very simple to convert, all one has to do is change the position of the decimal place. Whereas converting between imperial units requires the use of fractions (such as 1/12) and multiples (such as 5280) which most people cannot do in their head. Another reason the metric system is easier is because it typically has one base unit for each thing being measured or they derived it from another metric unit. For example distance is measured in the meter, mass is measured in the gram, and volume measured in liters (which were derived from cubic centimeters). Yet the US units have several different measurements for the same thing such as volume: gallons, quarts, pints, etc. and often splits them up between dry and liquid measurements. Thus, someone in the kitchen would only need to measure in a liter derived unit (likely the milliliter) and a mass derived unit (likely the gram) as opposed to several generic measurements. Finally, being the international system for science and medicine it would make sense for Americans to prioritize it. Scientific journals will publish their findings in the metric system, American researchers themselves use metric (such as NASA), doctors will use it which can make explaining things to patients easier, etc. With no benefit to the Imperial System, but a chance to improve scientific literacy, it only makes sense to adapt the metric system. 1-https://www.cia.gov... 2-http://articles.latimes.com...