Agreed, Jed. We are, as a species, entering an age of globalized systems, and I think tackling them will require a new set of linguistic skills. The language we use in politics and policy today is still based on national models of human organization -- one might almost say, tribal. My guess is that our language has led us into the present pickle, and that only linguistic improvements -- and radial ones at that -- will enable us to resolve the problems we have created for ourselves.
Cheers, Lawrence -----Original Message----- From: Jed Rothwell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 5:53 PM To: vortex-L@eskimo.com Subject: Re: [Vo]:Climate change 'significantly worse' than feared: Al Gore R.C.Macaulay wrote: >At some point in time it becomes necessary to recognize some >problems have no solution tasks and simply turn your head in a >stance of inevitiability. Al Gore has profited by profiling global >warming and Bono the same with Africa but neither have a solution. > >Africa is imploding in on itself, with any attempt to help being >frustrated. Climate changes occur but any attempt to modify climate >is futile. All the feeding of guilt will not solve insoluable problems. As I expect everyone here knows, telling me things like that are like waving red meat at a hungry lion. Frankly, such attitudes are anathema to the spirit of science, technology, and America -- three things I hold dear. Of course I acknowledge that people are capable of screwing things up. Of course I know that we might destroy ourselves and the ecology. Heck, we may destroy the world in an hour with thermonuclear bombs. And it goes without saying that there are some potential natural disasters we cannot cope with no matter what, such as the Sun going nova, and there may be irredeemable man-made disasters such as CO2 released from permafrost -- but there isn't yet, as far as I know. As things now stand, global warming and especially the situation in Africa are entirely our fault, and our problem, and I am certain -- beyond any doubt -- that we have the power to fix these problems. As John F. Kennedy said: "Our problems are manmade - therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable - and we believe they can do it again." Anyone who doubts that is betting against the tide of history. You are betting against human resilience which has survived incredible trials for millions of years as we came through "the evolutionary furnace" as Florman called it. And you are forgetting that we have transformed the whole face of the earth and we can do it again, and again; we have untold energy at our fingertips; the bounty of the whole solar system just outside our reach; and we are surrounded with everyday technology that people even 150 years ago would have found "indistinguishable from magic." How can anyone doubt that we have the power to forestall global warming, or bring properity to the millions of people in Africa?!? Strictly in terms of material resources and physical energy, we could easily create as much wealth for all 6 billion people as only a first-world millionaire enjoys today. The only thing stopping us from doing this is widespread ignorance and the will to act. Are there food shortages? We could grow enough food for everyone on earth in an area the size of Atlanta. Is there not enough meat? In the last few years, my friends at NewHarvest.com have brought the cost of cultivated meat (meat grown in vitro) down from $100,000 to a few thousand dollars per kilogram. It is just a matter of time before meat will be as cheap as tofu, and as clean and easy to make. Do people in Africa lack capital? Look at what the Grameen Bank has accomplished. No technically educated person should claim these problems cannot be solved! There are only two difficulties: 1. Deciding which of the many solutions is most likely to work, at the lowest cost. 2. Pushing aside the ignorant naysayers and greedy fools who say we can't solve the problems and we should just give up. Here is what we must believe and act upon, right up until the last member of our species goes extinct. In October 1941, after 10 months of war, Winston Churchill said: ". . . surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never -- in nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." Regarding our special predicament: I don't care if Albert Gore and 100 million scientists world-wide refuse to look at cold fusion, or ridicule it, or promote crazy ideas such as ethanol instead. I don't care about the "apparently overwhelming might" of Nature or the DoE. If we try hard enough, and we are lucky, we WILL push this vast crowd of idiots aside. It isn't a sure thing. But I am not finished yet, and frankly I wouldn't recommend you bet against me. - Jed
