Mike,
Why do you keep forcing me to give such depressing posts :-?
I am a miserable old bugger, so my daughter gave me a book for my
Christmas called "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman. In the review
by a n Amazon.co.uk customer he writes:
"Pessimists, by their way of thinking, constantly tend to destroy
their own hope and build self-blame and guilt. A pessimistic thinking
style causes many problems: emotional problems, under-utilization of
your potential, and health-problems. Thinking pessimistically is a
dangerous habit. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy: by thinking you
have no way of influencing a bad situation, this becomes true.
Optimists, on the other hand, build hope and maintain a positive self-
image. They perform better at school and/or work, and are, on average,
healthier. If this sounds interesting to you, maybe you should read
this book. It will help you to assess your own habits of explanation
and helps you to develop the skill of thinking positively."
What the reviewer does not say is that Seligman then goes on to
question why, if optimism leads to success why then has pessimism not
evolved out of the human species? His answer is that pessimism is
actually realism, and at time of crisis the realists are needed.
What I am saying is that you have to be realistic, otherwise we are
all doomed.
As Lovelock says, the US can get us out of this mess. Your rate of
switch to biofuels is a good example of that. But biofuels alone are
not the answer, when Oklahoma is returning to desert. Until you face
up to reality, then the world is heading for disaster. Don't forget
that even when the US is convinced to take action, we still have to
convince India and China.
OTOH, China has already started to take action with its one baby
program. The real problem is over population. But now all the
resources have been depleted it is a bit too late to cut population :-
(
Sorry, but I am just a realist :-(
Cheers, Alastair.
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