humanities.philosophy.objectivism

On Mar 25, 8:16 pm, David Buchner wrote:
> chazwin wrote:
> > The big question for me is: why is it that people are so ready to
> > believe in  the forthcoming demise of the planet?
>
> Why, indeed. That's the big question for me as well. Do you think
> they'll just tell us, if we ask nicely?   ;-)
>
> > And why is it we so quickly forget the previous predictions of dooms, such
> > as the forthcoming ICE_AGE that was so prevalent in 1974?
>
> I think that one's easier. People just forget stuff. Droughts, dust
> bowls, floods, earthquakes, blizzards, tornado clusters. Ask the guy on
> the street whether there's ever been an earthquake in the Midwest.
> People who flat-out ought to just plain know better, are always sure
> "It's never been this bad before!!!!" I keep hearing them say "It's
> never been this hot in September!" or whatever. I remember one time
> Stossel printed an e-mail from an irate viewer in Minneapolis who was
> absolutely certain global warming was happening, right now, and pointed
> to the fact that Mpls was in the middle of a week of hot weather in the
> middle of the summer.
>
> (hmmm... maybe the second question sheds some light on the first?)  

For centuries people have always been predicting the doom of th
earth. 2000 years ago it was the book of revelations. More recently
it was those nutters with sandwich-boards reading "The End is Nigh".
It is nothing more than human arrogance to think that the massive
forces and energies of the earth's weather system could be challenged
by burning CO2.
However - I am all for conservation and against pollution - so the CO2
mania could have positive consequences in those areas. We will run out
of oil eventually, later would be better than sooner.