The Battle on Global Warming
Expectedly…
the „real scientists“ now come and play down the human impact on climate change...
and different from the “doomsayers” they are “sure” and so can offer tangible results for politicians to decide what is best for you and me. And the politicians are glad about them, because the “doomsayers” are never able to give certainty like them.
So it seems, that neither politicians nor “real scientists” have ever thought about risk management – at least not, as if they themselves are involved.
We talk about changes in climate of a magnitude, never witnessed by the human species and none of our scientists really knows what that could mean (remember all the surprise in so many articles about how fast change happens?) And that simply means that a probability greater than zero of human extinction exists. Even believers in the Rich and Wealthy know that (Our Final Hour: “Rees is an advocate of the free market solution, and believes that the wealthy will push back the frontiers of space”.)
But when death threatens you – what do you do? Is there really anything too expensive for you as long as you can afford it – to avoid death?
So how can it be that our Rich and Wealthy don’t care about the (rising) probability of human extinction – aka their own death?
Only explanation is that they do believe that they can avoid death – even in times of mass deaths, even when Earth changes from Mother Earth to Kali, they believe to be able to buy life.
They pay for survival for a while (at least Mr. Edgar Bass) – but seem not to have learned from the results, because the Divine Dollar must be mightier than Physics.
Isn’t it?
Biosphere 2:
”In a 1983 interview Prance said "I was attracted to the Institute of Ecotechnics because funds for research were being cut and the institute seemed to have a lot of money which it was willing to spend freely. Along with others, I was ill-used. Their interest in science is not genuine. They seem to have some sort of secret agenda, they seem to be guided by some sort of religious or philosophical system"”
Honni soit qui mal y pense.
posted by Again at 2:53 AM
4 Comments:
Hello again my friend. Sorry for the long hiatus. I have been busy working, buying a house and moving. It has all been fairly overwhelming.
It would seem I have been a bit out of touch with you and everyone else for months. I have not fallen off the edge of the Earth though, so fear not. Only my writing has suffered not the learning that goes on behind the writing. This brings me to my present point, which is unfortunately unpleasant, yet important to make.
We spend so much time focusing on how we, the enlightened species, could get it all so wrong; how armed with all the knowledge of science, we could still be stupid enough to consume ourselves to extinction. Yet to our detriment, the real problem we fail to see is that we are too close to the problem. It is tough, I mean really tough, to step outside the human condition to some safe analytical position to truly observe the human animal from an objective ethological perspective.
When you are possessed with a brain that is tooled to look at the world from a perspective of interpreting data to infer a conclusion and decide what is best to do next, it is just difficult to objectively study subjects you deem so similar to your own self without projecting your own interpretation of that sentient being's motivations, goals, moods, what we would call anthropomorphizing if inferred on another species is completely natural when looking Jim, John, Susie, or Sara in the face. We look at them in the eyes and see ourselves because 7 million years of hominid evolution has perchance brought us here, to live as social creatures, to adapt, to depend on one another, to remember who reciprocates and who cheats who.
We humans live in an incredibly rich stimulating social environment. In the past 40,000 years we have gone from living in caves, eating raw meat and scavanging for fruits and roots to living in stuctures we design and build ourselves, eating foods that are mass produced, cooked no less by fires and microwaves and electric energy all harnessed by our big brains. We have been to the Earth's moon and sent datat collection devices much further into space. We have developed language to communicate better our intentions and deceptions to one another. And of course, discovered possibly to our detriment the power of the atom.
Yet what we miss is so big, so fundamental, so 'slapping us in the face' important. In the past several decades cognitive science has made leaps and bounds in the understanding of how the human mind is organinzed, how the 'soul' is created and where the 'I' is or isn't in our brains depending on what level of information processing you are talking about. We can pretty much draw strong conclusions as to the most likely path to the evolution of this 'mind' from the primative minds of our ancestors and yet we still find ourselves missing the forest for the trees. The fundamental question that you and many other scientist keep asking "If we are so smart, why are we so stupid?" remains aloof. I suppose about now you are waiting for some kind of an answer.
Ok. It goes back to what I have been trying to explain all along. I have been studying the human animal in detail to try and answer this question since the Warblogging days back when you first posed questions to my defense of Rousseau's theories about primative man. As I did back then, I must admit I was no expert on Anthropology. I found you raised some stirring questions I indeed had no answers to, but those who wished to tear down science would certainly be asking. Armed with only my wits, I set out to find these answers and this has been my life's work outside of earning a living since that moment of epiphany. What I have discovered since that day is that we are very good at finding our way around the neighborhood be it Brooklyn or the savannah of our recent ancestors. We remember where we found food, where the watering hole is, who we can trust, who we cannot, who we are related to (approximately, dicounting cuckolding), and who is indebted to whom. As I stated previously, we have developed thousands upon thousands of oral languages which have grown, matured, evolved, become extinct and been replaced all in an effort to effectively communicate our needs and our willingness to cooperate as well as deceive one another. We have built great structures in which to live, to worship the dieties we invented to explain the wonders of our world, to protect the things we cherish from one another and the elements, and to heal the wounds inflicted upon one another in the pursuit of our goals. Yet still we have come no closer to the answer. But the answer is buried in what I have so far lacked. Why do we look at a problem of Global Warming with horror and disbelief, yet we do nothing. We are evolved enough to understand that we all will die. We must. No living thing survives forever. So how can we be so stupid and not try to defend the future of our progeny? Natural instinct prods most animals to defend their young from harm, right? Certainly ths should be enough shouldn't it?
This is where Darwin got it right and we, the democratic, chose not to listen. We shudder to think how brutal nature is. Nature has no long term goals. Nature has on vested interest in the survival of the human species. Nature DID NOT design the human animal with ANY particular end in mind. We are not the goal of anything, as we are not the ending point of any evolutionary timetable. All of these thoughts of a grand design and purpose are anthropomorphic ideas projected on an unthinking, wasteful process of natural selection. Ex nihilo, ergo nil is an unfortunate meme to have survived though the years which needs be vanquished if we are to survive. Survival of the species is not a natural goal of the evolutionary process. Competition and the arms race that ensues is what has brought us into being. One unfortunate consequence is that we figured out a faster way to invent even more lethal arms races than any other breed of animals.
All this, I must admit, paints apretty bleak picture for the future of humanity. Indeed this is what the christians point to when they criticize natural selection. It is what makes the faithful cling to their invented gods in hope of an afterlife free of such brutality. Surely there must be some kind of better reward for a lifetime of struggle. It's an appealing hope to be sure. But it is important to remember that we are not slaves to our biology either. We can and do make choices that only mind havers can be free to make. We can choose to step away from the buffet line, we can choose to walk to the market instead of driving our pollution machines, we can choose to not have the second or third child even though our parents want another grandchild. We are the masters of our own destinies once we understand they are ours to choose. Far too many generations have lived inside the saccharine dreams perpetuated by civic and religious leaders looking for social harmony. This is not to imply a villian just a source of conflict. But we can choose to free ourselves of the negative aspects of these ties. My point is that we have developed a sense of free will and must choose to do the things that will protect our future or face the consequences. Our choices are difficult and compounded with the fact that we do not come prewired with solutions to the problems we face. Should we survive another million years or a few million we may develop insticts to correct our immediate troubles but the problems aren't going to wait around for us to fix them. We need to do the right things now. Even if we are not sure what all the right things are, we still have an approximation of which direction we need to move in. The point is these things need to be taught and learned. The ideas need to spread and grow in the manner of all culturally evolving thoughts. When you are sitting there wondering why you bother, remember this. Memes are cuturally evolving repicators. They depend on the minds they are captured in to interpret and further their causes. To be successful ideas must speak loud and speak often, they must be heard and understood. What is important to remember is a historic fact from your own country. One I know you hate to be reminded of. The history of the National Socialists Party. While a glaring example of how hatred and hysteria can cause the destruction of so much that is right and good, there is a lesson to learn other than never again and that is the power of a passionate minority. A dedicated, passionate minority can make all the difference in the world for the good or the bad.
Something to think about. Be well my friend, we will speak again soon.
hi jason,
fine to read, that all is ok
been a bit out of touch with you and everyone else for months
everyone else <sigh>
everyone else is gone - seems, that only Brenda is still alive on the net
In the past 40,000 years we have gone from living in caves
no, tents, i bet ;-)
but do not underestimate that persons - they are the same kind of humans like you and me
actually, last sunday i visited an exhibition about the first settlements of humankind in Turkey (you know one of the countries of the "towelheads")...
was very impressing in many ways - e.g. there is hardly anything to find about hierarchy, about "dear leaders" as we modern willing slaves of leadership need so urgently today (despite the fact, that "too strong men" are a deadly sin for states) - but the most impressive things were the perfect needles and terracotta-floors those people had
needles made of bones, but as thin as modern metal needles and the terracotta as soft as silk
i looked at original bowls made of stone - stone! Not thicker than a little finger
really, if you have the chance to look at ancient humankind - do it. You get back the respect for humankind ;-)
What is important to remember is a historic fact from your own country. One I know you hate to be reminded of.
sorry to say that, but i guess, you confuse me with someone else - did you read my post about Political futility or Which Memes to Replicate?
there is a lesson to learn other than never again and that is the power of a passionate minority. A dedicated, passionate minority can make all the difference in the world for the good or the bad.
i know what you mean - but while i am a fiery fan of Hans and Sophie Scholl, i guess, the Nazis really are a bad example of the power of minorities - actually, if i would have to chose an example, i always would take Mr. Joseph Welch and his great words "have you no decency, Sir" - which defeated McCarthy
Be well my friend, we will speak again soon.
would be glad - your thoughts about human intelligence and brain sound very interesting and i guess, we can have some enlightening discussions
Armed with only my wits, I set out to find these answers and this has been my life's work outside of earning a living since that moment of epiphany.
thanks - that is one of the greatest compliments i ever heard, because my intention is not about preaching and teaching, but about discussions with self-thinking persons
Sorry about the choice of examples, but the message is still the same whether positive or negative, an organized, dedicated minority makes all the difference in political circles. I lukewarm majority never accomplishes anything
hi jason, sorry, if i said something wrong
an organized, dedicated minority makes all the difference in political circles
remember Math beats Faith?
you are perfectly right - even mathematically provable ;-)
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