--- Nick Arnett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hmm, forgot to add an invitation at the end of that
> message.
>
> Your feedback on those thoughts is welcome.
>
> Your collaboration to expand the ideas is also
> welcome.
>
> ;-)
>
> Nick
You certainly have a point here, though I think you're
overestimating the impact that authority/democracy/the
free market has on the mindshare. Dan just makes it
seem that way 'cuz he's so smart. =) And I think the
main thrust of his arguments was backed more by the
scientific method and less by democracy and the free
market.
The free market(or whatever) doesn't have perfect
knowledge nor self correction, but it's the best we
have right now. The name of the game is efficiency,
the allocation of resources where they'll do the most
good. To be honest, I can't conceive of anything that
could be an alternative to the efficient use of
resources. Can you? From what I can see, the free
market uses both feedback and collaboration. I'm not
familiar with the sources you cited, I'd love if you
could elaborate on some of those other principles.
<ramble>
Weakening our own economies for principal isn't going
to do us or the environment any good in the long term,
unless you're an extreme Luddite and you want us to
abandon the modern world. With solar and wind power,
the bulk of the people arguing against Jeroen's
immediate implementation weren't saying that solar and
wind were useless for power generation. They're
saying that it would be grossly inefficient- no
purpose is served by putting a huge part of the EU's
(or the world's) GNP into a solution that is poor when
compared to other modern solutions. Imagine if every
country in the world abandoned r & d into fixed wing
aircraft, automobiles, and trains in favor of building
a bunch of zeppelins in the 20's and 30's.
I believe that we are rapidly approaching a point
where we will begin to heal the Earth more quickly
than we are harming it. We're certainly doing better
now than we were 40 years ago, and that's partly due
to people like Jeroen and Kat preaching doom and gloom
to remind us to not get lazy and ignore our
responsibilities. The key is moderation, as with
politics. We need to strike a balance so that not
only our home is harmed as little as possible, but
ourselves as well.
dean
</ramble>
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