On Nov 17, 9:37 am, schryer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I guess what I am trying to say with the trust argument is that it
> takes a certain amount of education and background to even grasp some
> of the concepts being discussed, and a large portion of the planet,
> and even a high percentage of people in developed nations do not have
> the background to fully understand the problem, let alone have the
> ability to assess evidence. This means that the majority of people
> lack the skills to properly develop their own position on the topic,
> and instead derive their opinions on the statements of "experts".
> This boils down to a belief situation much like religion where the
> "truth" can be manipulated by "experts" with dubious motives.
Interesting. As I have said before, people should be extremely leery
of the opinions of those who have a vested interested in a certain
kind of opinion. Alas, this is also a mark of some minimal degree of
sophistication.
>
> My opinion is that we should act on the advice of the people who are
> able to properly assess the situation, and not on popular opinion.
> However our political systems work on the majority vote, so one can
> imagine (and indeed we are witnessing) a number of scenarios where our
> political situation is manipulated to delay any real change in our
> society that would offset climate change. Even worse, the changes
> necessary go against the desires of human nature, so it is hard to
> imagine the majority voting to change our lifestyle to save the
> planet. In this situation I trust the experts more than our political
> systems.
So do I. I will add this. The Republican Party can not afford to be
seen as the party of global warming skeptics. And I don't think it
will be seen that way forever. But the debate presently rages within
the Republican party:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/us/politics/17conservatives.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
Grover Norquist seems to be leading reguard action, but that will
eventually fai.
Edward
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