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>Tradeoffs everywhere. I wish every journalist writing about complex environmental topics would just start every first draft with that sentence, and then evolv

>Tradeoffs everywhere. I wish every journalist writing about complex environmental topics would just start every first draft with that sentence, and then evolve it into an article.

spiderfarmer 5y ago
Same goes for Youtubers who go "in depth" on futuristic technologies. They always hype you up before they introduce some realism.
- kspacewalk2 5y ago
  Yep. Self-driving cars are a great example. They will solve every transportation-related problem a modern city has! Cue the horrible dystopian animation of an intersection without traffic lights. Sorry to be a Luddite buzzkill, but what I do if I live near one and want to walk?
  - ensignavenger 5y ago
    All you would need for that is the traditional "Walk/Don't Walk" sign. Sensors will detect when you are at the intersection, and coordinate with all the autonomous vehicles to stop so you can walk. After they have all stopped, the Walk sign will light. No need for traffic lights. That is an easily solvable problem.
chiefalchemist 5y ago
Respectfully. If they were true journalist they would do this. Unfortunately, we too often get hacks posing as journalists. We, The Public, need to stop giving credit where credit is not due. Put another way, if your pet barked would you call it a cat? Of course not, yet we allow hacks to pass themselves off as journalists. Such language abuse is Orwellian, at best.
ravenstine 5y ago
I've really become exhausted at the first world default assumption that something is wrong if it's not a win-win situation. Is that not a part of the psychology of many who can't accept things like nuclear and natural gas as alternatives to arguably worse solutions because there are those tradeoffs? I agree that it would be great if journalists could move from win-win thinking to tradeoffs thinking, and that's a transition that globalized societies should move towards as well.
- notreallyserio 5y ago
  Another phrase for this concept is "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," something a lot of people struggle (or outright refuse) to understand.
  - ravenstine 5y ago
    Yes, exactly. And if one can't ever be satisfied with that, at least momentarily, then they are stuck in whataboutism hell.

>Tradeoffs everywhere. I wish every journalist writing about complex environmental topics would just start every first draft with that sentence, and then evolve it into an article.

spiderfarmer 5y ago

Same goes for Youtubers who go "in depth" on futuristic technologies. They always hype you up before they introduce some realism.

kspacewalk2 5y ago
Yep. Self-driving cars are a great example. They will solve every transportation-related problem a modern city has! Cue the horrible dystopian animation of an intersection without traffic lights. Sorry to be a Luddite buzzkill, but what I do if I live near one and want to walk?
- ensignavenger 5y ago
  All you would need for that is the traditional "Walk/Don't Walk" sign. Sensors will detect when you are at the intersection, and coordinate with all the autonomous vehicles to stop so you can walk. After they have all stopped, the Walk sign will light. No need for traffic lights. That is an easily solvable problem.

chiefalchemist 5y ago

Respectfully. If they were true journalist they would do this. Unfortunately, we too often get hacks posing as journalists. We, The Public, need to stop giving credit where credit is not due. Put another way, if your pet barked would you call it a cat? Of course not, yet we allow hacks to pass themselves off as journalists. Such language abuse is Orwellian, at best.

ravenstine 5y ago

I've really become exhausted at the first world default assumption that something is wrong if it's not a win-win situation. Is that not a part of the psychology of many who can't accept things like nuclear and natural gas as alternatives to arguably worse solutions because there are those tradeoffs? I agree that it would be great if journalists could move from win-win thinking to tradeoffs thinking, and that's a transition that globalized societies should move towards as well.

notreallyserio 5y ago
Another phrase for this concept is "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," something a lot of people struggle (or outright refuse) to understand.
- ravenstine 5y ago
  Yes, exactly. And if one can't ever be satisfied with that, at least momentarily, then they are stuck in whataboutism hell.