3 ms·

The danger of cosmic genius

13 points by davi 16y ago

vixen99 16y ago
'Dead wrong (about global warming)'? For this to be true, there would have to be a demonstration that net positive feedback effects from increasing atmospheric CO2 (leading to runaway warming) have been <conclusively> shown to be taking place. I would guess that Dyson along with other sceptics has not seen such irrefutable evidence which would kill anti-AGW views.
iwwr 16y ago
This whole article is an academic's idea of an ad hominem attack. "Brilliant", a "cosmic genius", yet "dumb", "emotionally incapable of understanding", and further a lame attempt at psychoanalysis; instead of actually appealing to Dyson's statements and trying to combat them with facts.
- varjag 16y ago
  Yes, it's pretty sure the longest ad hominem I read in my life so far.
mquander 16y ago
This is hilarious. The article spends N pages of intermittent insults and biography and then deigns to write exactly one sentence describing what might actually be wrong with his views: "They promise side effects, backfirings, and unintended consequences on a scale unknown in history, and we lack the financial and political wherewithal, and the international comity, to accomplish them anyway." Is this our cue to nod sagely and stroke our beards? Flagged as crap, filed into the "Dangerous Knowledge" cabinet.
- hugh3 16y ago
  It is crap, but it's interesting crap. It's wrong, but it's wrong in an interesting way. And a discussion on Freeman Dyson is always worthwhile. But now it's dead. Sic transit gloria frontpage.
alanfalcon 16y ago
Mosly unrelated: What struck me from reading this article is how much the Dyson family obviously served go influence Neil Stephenson. From the birth of digital processing (Diamond Age) to Aleutian canoes (Snow Crash) to the depiction of Orion's nuclear space ark (Anathem) ... Makes me wonder what other sources of inspiration Neil might have out there. Perhaps I should actually read the acknowledgments in Stephenson's books.

13 points by davi 16y ago

'Dead wrong (about global warming)'? For this to be true, there would have to be a demonstration that net positive feedback effects from increasing atmospheric CO2 (leading to runaway warming) have been <conclusively> shown to be taking place. I would guess that Dyson along with other sceptics has not seen such irrefutable evidence which would kill anti-AGW views.

iwwr 16y ago

This whole article is an academic's idea of an ad hominem attack. "Brilliant", a "cosmic genius", yet "dumb", "emotionally incapable of understanding", and further a lame attempt at psychoanalysis; instead of actually appealing to Dyson's statements and trying to combat them with facts.

varjag 16y ago
Yes, it's pretty sure the longest ad hominem I read in my life so far.

mquander 16y ago

This is hilarious. The article spends N pages of intermittent insults and biography and then deigns to write exactly one sentence describing what might actually be wrong with his views: "They promise side effects, backfirings, and unintended consequences on a scale unknown in history, and we lack the financial and political wherewithal, and the international comity, to accomplish them anyway." Is this our cue to nod sagely and stroke our beards? Flagged as crap, filed into the "Dangerous Knowledge" cabinet.

hugh3 16y ago
It is crap, but it's interesting crap. It's wrong, but it's wrong in an interesting way. And a discussion on Freeman Dyson is always worthwhile. But now it's dead. Sic transit gloria frontpage.

alanfalcon 16y ago

Mosly unrelated: What struck me from reading this article is how much the Dyson family obviously served go influence Neil Stephenson. From the birth of digital processing (Diamond Age) to Aleutian canoes (Snow Crash) to the depiction of Orion's nuclear space ark (Anathem) ... Makes me wonder what other sources of inspiration Neil might have out there. Perhaps I should actually read the acknowledgments in Stephenson's books.