----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert A. Rohde" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Newsgroups: gmane.science.general.global-change To: "globalchange" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 10:41 PM Subject: [Global Change: 2005] Re: The seventieth generation
> Once we start talking about these fantastically long timescales there > is essentially no way to predict future cost. <...> > > > On Aug 3, 3:06 pm, "Michael Tobis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I agree that we need a metric. I think the idea that it is even >> commensurable with dollars is dubious, but that's another topic. Let >> me stipulate that we ahve some measure of value, and discuss whether >> any discount rate at all is morally defensible. >> >> My question is what the moral basis is for valuing *equally likely* >> disaster in 20800 so much less than a comparable disaster in 2080. >> >> mt >> >> On 7/30/07, Don Libby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 1:12 PM >> > Subject: [Global Change: 1981] The seventieth generation >> >> > > Do we have a moral right to weight the distant future against a >> > > more or less arbitrary contemporary measure of value? >> >> > > mt >> >> > This leaves us with a political >> > struggle between those who prefer a high discount rate and those who >> > prefer >> > a low one. Well, you're looking in the right place - moral values underpin time preferences. You will no doubt find a plurality of opinions, each rooted in moral values. Which one is "right"? Scratching head, shrugging shoulders, there's not much case-law precedent to draw on for Geocide. Reaching for the bookshelf: "Time and money: Discounting's problematic allure" http://www.rff.org/Documents/RFF-Resources-136-pres.pdf _Discounting and Intergenerational Equity_ http://www.rff.org/rff/rff_press/bookdetail.cfm?outputID=3115 The folks at Resources for the Future have given this some serious thought. -dl --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
