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| Science & Technology |
| Global Warming "Madness of Crowds"? |
| 2009-12-14 |
Cascade theory? Madness of crowds? Is it easier to adopt the opinions of others than to form your own? This article is a serious read. It is not a short sixth-grade reading level article you are used to in the newspaper. If you are a thinking person, read it carefully as there is a lot in there. For example:Is belief in global-warming science another example of the "madness of crowds"? That strange but powerful social phenomenon, first described by Charles Mackay in 1841, turns a widely shared prejudice into an irresistible "authority". Could it indeed represent the final triumph of irrationality? After all, how rational is it to pass laws banning one kind of light bulb (and insisting on their replacement by ones filled with poisonous mercury vapour) in order to "save electricity", while ploughing money into schemes to run cars on ... electricity? How rational is it to pay the Russians once for fossil fuels, and a second time for permission (via carbon credits) to burn them (see box page 36)? And how rational is it to suppose that the effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere take between 200 and 1,000 years to be felt, but that solutions can take effect almost instantaneously? I discovered this on Bishop Hill's blog. It is well worth the read. |
| Posted by:crosspatch |