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God help us when the fraction of gases in the atmosphere can be set by the political process. How often do we get a ruling class that you would trust with that
by hirundo 8y ago
God help us when the fraction of gases in the atmosphere can be set by the political process. How often do we get a ruling class that you would trust with that decision? And if we can't trust them consistently on that, it may become our species' resolution of the Fermi paradox.
- krastanov 8y agoThis is a bit bombastic. Democracies are not perfect, but they have been mostly functional, and the ruling class (while not great) does not have such a bad record: ozone depleting chemicals, leaded gasoline, OSHA rules, drug and food safety standards. Just like you, I am disappointed by the slow progress, but if we are to be taken seriously with our concerns we should not exaggerate.
- gameswithgo 8y ago>How often do we get a ruling class that you would trust with that decision? Right now the ruling class of big oil is setting the fraction of gases in the atmosphere, and doing a terrible job of it. But at least it isn't the government?
- ip26 8y agoIt doesn't seem particularly fraught with ambiguity? We know what the composition was going back many hundreds of years. Presumably it would not be hard to agree something like, "OK we target the pre-industrial revolution composition" and that would be that.
- stouset 8y ago> …presumably it would not be hard to agree… This seems like a particularly bold claim given that we currently live in a political climate where we can’t even seem to agree on basic matters of reality.