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I can accept that in broader society, climate change is an "ideological" concept. I cannot accept that it would be inside a well educated circle like hackernew

I can accept that in broader society, climate change is an "ideological" concept. I cannot accept that it would be inside a well educated circle like hackernews. It should not be any more controversial than flat earth theory or moon landing conspiracies. So, I think it's reasonable for me to try to understand, anthropologically speaking, the mindset of a modern climate change denialist. My uncharitable and editorialized descript of their perspectives is perfectly justifiable. These people are actively perpetuating information and policy decisions that will cause the deaths of millions in the next century, the displacement of 100s of millions of more, and a reduction in the quality of life of billions. They are not worthy of my civility. Civility is what is leading to the the status quo where we as a society - both left and right - have just accepted that the great barrier reef will be dead within a decade, and our children's children will only read about coral reefs in textbooks.

erentz 6y ago
I think you’re expectations are sadly misplaced. In reality it turns out that a community of people interested in technology doesn’t really equate to it being that much smarter in terms of critical thinking, evaluating science, so forth, than the general population. Liking technology doesn’t automatically mean people have decent critical thinking skills, or are naturally inclined/trained to think scientifically and skeptically. You see people applying motivated reasoning repeatedly, avoiding agreement on the facts because they don’t seem to like the consequences of them, rather than being able to separate how they feel about it, the morals, their values, so forth from what are simple facts. Shows up in lots of topics.
AussieWog93 6y ago
A couple of responses: - Your comment wasn't about climate change, but about your interpretations of people who don't care about it as much as you do. Talking about climate change is not unproductive. - Your comment did not make a good faith attempt to shine light on the mindset of the people who oppose solutions to global warming. You set up 5 strawman arguments and then beat them down. - Comments like these are not effective at changing the minds necessary to avoid an ecological disaster. The most likely impact of your comment is that you galvanised the viewpoint of a few climate change deniers and pushed people in the centre away from your point of view.
hillbillydilly 6y ago
might want to modify your interpretation of what "well educated" people get up to in the world these days huh? HN has long been a bastion of libertarian contrarianism made up of (imo) privileged and extremely "well educated" folks disconnected from large swaths non-silicon society. you should really just not read the comments here and seriously stop thinking these nerds care that much or would do anything if they did.

erentz 6y ago

I think you’re expectations are sadly misplaced. In reality it turns out that a community of people interested in technology doesn’t really equate to it being that much smarter in terms of critical thinking, evaluating science, so forth, than the general population. Liking technology doesn’t automatically mean people have decent critical thinking skills, or are naturally inclined/trained to think scientifically and skeptically. You see people applying motivated reasoning repeatedly, avoiding agreement on the facts because they don’t seem to like the consequences of them, rather than being able to separate how they feel about it, the morals, their values, so forth from what are simple facts. Shows up in lots of topics.

AussieWog93 6y ago

A couple of responses: - Your comment wasn't about climate change, but about your interpretations of people who don't care about it as much as you do. Talking about climate change is not unproductive. - Your comment did not make a good faith attempt to shine light on the mindset of the people who oppose solutions to global warming. You set up 5 strawman arguments and then beat them down. - Comments like these are not effective at changing the minds necessary to avoid an ecological disaster. The most likely impact of your comment is that you galvanised the viewpoint of a few climate change deniers and pushed people in the centre away from your point of view.

hillbillydilly 6y ago

might want to modify your interpretation of what "well educated" people get up to in the world these days huh? HN has long been a bastion of libertarian contrarianism made up of (imo) privileged and extremely "well educated" folks disconnected from large swaths non-silicon society. you should really just not read the comments here and seriously stop thinking these nerds care that much or would do anything if they did.