Thank you for your good-faith replies! I'm trying to understand other perspectives on this topic.
On the use of "blackbody" - I'm sure some people with little or no background in physics would certainly take offense to it. It may be a physical phenomena but it was still named by fallible, biased humans - it shouldn't be exempt right? Surely you don't need a "white" version for a term to be problematic?
"Blackbody" seems as problematic as "blacklist" to me because the term it's paired with (radiation) has a very negative colloquial connotation (nuclear war, cancer, etc). Thoughts?
It's funny how "Blackbody" and "blacklist" can be seen as a problem, without ever questioning the application of black and white to people, who are normally neither black nor white. I suppose "coloured" was intended to remedy this, but it's fallen out of favour.
FYI - blackness has always had negative connotations in the same way darkness has: it's associated with the night, and not being able to see. I'm sure these sentiments are universal, and existed in the west before the influence of race.
On the use of "blackbody" - I'm sure some people with little or no background in physics would certainly take offense to it. It may be a physical phenomena but it was still named by fallible, biased humans - it shouldn't be exempt right? Surely you don't need a "white" version for a term to be problematic?
"Blackbody" seems as problematic as "blacklist" to me because the term it's paired with (radiation) has a very negative colloquial connotation (nuclear war, cancer, etc). Thoughts?