On Thu, Sep 26, 2002 at 11:21:15PM -0700, Deborah Harrell wrote: > Debbi who finds it ironic that those who insist we must act _now_ > because of immediate danger from Iraq, and want to change a > long-standing policy of 'no first strike' to 'preemptive strike if we > think there is threat' also insist that there is not enough evidence > to even begin considering policy change in another arena of potential > threat
Ironic isn't the word I'd have used. Depressing demonstration of human nature is more like it. Doing nothing is easy. Doing something is hard. In BOTH cases, we have people who would prefer to do the easy thing, nothing, and it seems to be human nature to ignore logic and evidence in order to "reason" that doing nothing is the right thing. By the way, I think the evidence that there is global warming is convincing. The evidence that human activity is solely or even mostly responsible is much LESS convincing. But the thing is, as far as deciding what to do about global warming right now, IT DOES NOT MATTER! The current scientific understanding of global warming/cooling cycles is inadequate. But whether we are warming now due primarily to humans, or because we are departing an "ice-age" type period (or some other reason), what needs to be done is more basic research to understand ALL of the mechanisms that can lead to global warming and cooling, and then (perhaps in parallel), applied research to see what we can do to control it. It is a mistake to put blinders on and only focus on mechanisms related to humans, even if that is the present cause of warming, because there may be a better way to counter warming. -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.net/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
