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I don't know what to make of the "climate change is a scam to tax us for carbon use by politicians" comments in the NYT article. Do people actually believe tha

by neom 8y ago

I don't know what to make of the "climate change is a scam to tax us for carbon use by politicians" comments in the NYT article. Do people actually believe that? My wife works for UNEP and some of the stuff she tells me about climate change is truly terrifying.

crispinb 8y ago
There really is nothing too bizarre for some people to believe. Just one daft example I came across this morning: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/09/flat-earth-cruise-nautical-navigation https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/09/flat-earth-c... In relation to the downsides of so-called 'economic growth': when you add personal fear to modern society-wide myths and more than a century of compulsory corporate propaganda, etc, you get a pretty potent brew of motivated miscognition.
- neom 8y ago
  I wonder why it actually matters to these people if the earth is flat or not?
  - crispinb 8y ago
    An interesting question, but I don't think it is specific to flat-earthers. Attachment to ideas is a human characteristic - hence the panoply of institutions and disciplines intended to circumvent it in science, journalism, etc. The idea flat earthers are attached to happens to be a particularly silly one, but the attachment itself is nearly universal.
Recurecur 8y ago
> I don't know what to make of the "climate change is a scam to tax us for carbon use by politicians" comments in the NYT article. I think it's one manifestation of the concern that "climate change" is just the latest example of "no crisis should go to waste" political manipulation. I'm not so concerned directly with that, but with the jump to "clearly the solution is a 100% renewable grid". I'll be ready to contribute even more of my income to government once the approach is amended to include massive support for next-gen nuclear power, and a plan to continue the rapid expansion of the world's electric capacity. Personally I like ThorCon's approach best, but there are plenty of other worthy contenders.

by neom 8y ago

crispinb 8y ago

There really is nothing too bizarre for some people to believe. Just one daft example I came across this morning: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/09/flat-earth-cruise-nautical-navigation https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/09/flat-earth-c... In relation to the downsides of so-called 'economic growth': when you add personal fear to modern society-wide myths and more than a century of compulsory corporate propaganda, etc, you get a pretty potent brew of motivated miscognition.

neom 8y ago
I wonder why it actually matters to these people if the earth is flat or not?
- crispinb 8y ago
  An interesting question, but I don't think it is specific to flat-earthers. Attachment to ideas is a human characteristic - hence the panoply of institutions and disciplines intended to circumvent it in science, journalism, etc. The idea flat earthers are attached to happens to be a particularly silly one, but the attachment itself is nearly universal.

Recurecur 8y ago

> I don't know what to make of the "climate change is a scam to tax us for carbon use by politicians" comments in the NYT article. I think it's one manifestation of the concern that "climate change" is just the latest example of "no crisis should go to waste" political manipulation. I'm not so concerned directly with that, but with the jump to "clearly the solution is a 100% renewable grid". I'll be ready to contribute even more of my income to government once the approach is amended to include massive support for next-gen nuclear power, and a plan to continue the rapid expansion of the world's electric capacity. Personally I like ThorCon's approach best, but there are plenty of other worthy contenders.