16 ms·

Devils advocate: that efficiency is one important reason why we're rich enough to be able to afford so much else. Like, CO2 emissions are best controlled by soc

Devils advocate: that efficiency is one important reason why we're rich enough to be able to afford so much else. Like, CO2 emissions are best controlled by societies who are able to shoulder the greater expense of avoiding coal and such. If we can't count on these efficiencies, we're going to lose a huge amount of positives. This sounds to me kind of like the fallacy of "if it saves even one life, it's worth it". That's of course ridiculous, because saving that life costs so much that we'll be unable to save countless other lives. In reality, the balancing of costs and benefits is much more subtle and complex.

dangus 5y ago
To be clear I’m not saying to move to the extreme end of the spectrum. My point is that the West often seems to consider low costs and efficiency above long-term implications. I’m not saying the West should pull an Argentina [1], but the West also shouldn’t always be metaphorically choosing the lowest bidder. [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/02/17/515850029/episode-755-the-phone-at-the-end-of-the-world https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/02/17/515850029/epis...