Heresy
The New York Times Magazine has a very nice article about Freeman Dyson. Please read it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp.
Oh and Larry Niven gets a mention.
It expresses his concerns about the modern environmental movement and the direction it shifts our focus. I agree with him. The article is not about that particularly. It's about the result of his opinion within the scientific community.
How odd that I plead open mindedness in order to convince people that Global Warming is not the threat it is made out to be. I only say that in the context that there are other things that CAN be solved that would have a far greater effect on humanity than addressing our impact on the environment. Global warming could have a disastrous effect, but there are other things that are killing people now and in much greater numbers than even the worst projections of the side effects of global warming. I have to justify saying this at any time and in some ways it pains me to have to make that justification, but the voices screaming out about this and many other modern issues are so reminiscent of tribal warfare and mob politics that to somehow seem as if I'm in agreement with anyone at all who has made any partisan public discourse into a mud slinging scream-fest, that I can't do so anymore without feeling pangs of my own conscience.
In such a time my advice would be to disbelieve EVERYTHING, even Freeman dyson. I might agree with him, but you don't have to. I would however like to have logical debates with people that don't make them feel uncomfortable, and if that means I have to hate every talking head with every fibre of my being, so be it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp.
Oh and Larry Niven gets a mention.
It expresses his concerns about the modern environmental movement and the direction it shifts our focus. I agree with him. The article is not about that particularly. It's about the result of his opinion within the scientific community.
How odd that I plead open mindedness in order to convince people that Global Warming is not the threat it is made out to be. I only say that in the context that there are other things that CAN be solved that would have a far greater effect on humanity than addressing our impact on the environment. Global warming could have a disastrous effect, but there are other things that are killing people now and in much greater numbers than even the worst projections of the side effects of global warming. I have to justify saying this at any time and in some ways it pains me to have to make that justification, but the voices screaming out about this and many other modern issues are so reminiscent of tribal warfare and mob politics that to somehow seem as if I'm in agreement with anyone at all who has made any partisan public discourse into a mud slinging scream-fest, that I can't do so anymore without feeling pangs of my own conscience.
In such a time my advice would be to disbelieve EVERYTHING, even Freeman dyson. I might agree with him, but you don't have to. I would however like to have logical debates with people that don't make them feel uncomfortable, and if that means I have to hate every talking head with every fibre of my being, so be it.
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