I read two great pieces in the new york a few weeks ago. The first is an amazing rant by Stanely Fish, blasting all the lifestyle changes and costs incurred for his family to “go green.” I agreed with everything he said – but aside from a powerful love for what seems to be an obsessive compulsive wife, I can’t see why he went through it all. Stanley writes…
. A few months ago, we decided to renovate a 30-year-old kitchen. The plans were modest; the contractor was engaged; the price was reasonable; I was happy. Then I went on a trip and when I returned, everything had changed. I was informed that the wood we had ordered for the cabinets comes from some far-off place and would have to be stored, transported, stored again and transported again, adding scandalously to the carbon footprint of my poor small kitchen. If we were to avoid being labeled environmental criminals, we would have to de-order the wood (somehow we managed to do this without incurring a restocking fee) and we would have to find a company in a nearby locale that would send us wood from a tree that was not cut down until our order had been received. (How this would be monitored is something I never found out.) The same company would also immediately plant a tree to replace the one we were harvesting, and we would receive a certificate attesting to all this from the Forestry Stewardship Council.
- http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/i-am-therefore-i-pollute/
The sheer idiocy of the whole thing is striking to me. As you readers know, I have a profound respect for Nature and the living, breathing, intelligent entity that is planet Earth. Nonetheless, the green agenda is not an environmental movement – at least not a rational one. It is born out of an irrational moralistic ideal. Again, the brilliant (but always big government republocrat) new york times sheds light on the psychopathology of moralism. You can read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/magazine/13Psychology-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
The sheer self righteousness of this green movement is no different than that of radical right wing christians. And just as global islamic terrorism grows abroad, we have a growing menace of domestic eco-terrorism in our own backyards. Welcome to the new era of crusades where the rational and peaceful are nailed to the cross. We live in a country where hummers are firebombed and where research facilities are vandalized. Where is are the calls to liberate us from the menace of enviro-terrorism?
Here is a recently dugg article on the dangers of wind turbines to bat populations.
http://digg.com/environment/Wind_turbines_make_bat_lungs_explode
Of course bats are one of the main checks on rampant mosquito populations. Preserving populations of bats is very important to human well being and comfort. Still, enviro-moralists are quick to decry any solution to the energy crisis short of returning to the stone age – thus sabotaging the progress of not just humans, but the future of all life on earth.
I would like to think there is a clear glimmer of hope, but I’m not so sure. The mainstream has adopted the enviro-moralist agenda and bureaucrats are quick to pander with expensive solutions that will do nothing to make our world healthier and “greener.” Still, such a dangerous and narrow ideology will eventually destroy itself in the darwinian market of ideas.
Welcome to my latest blog: Hardcore Dynamic. This blog will explore a number of topics ranging from technology and transhumanism to spirituality and consciousness. I’ve been thinking about and researching these subjects for a number of years, and I feel ready to share my findings with the world at large – so that we can develop a discourse to examine these ideas and secure our futures.
A multitude of changes are taking place around the world. As we approach Technological Singularity, we are seeing great advances in communication and transportation technology. Ideas are spreading ever faster and the benefits are clear. Individuals around the world are becoming smarter, healthier, more educated and wealthier. Members of the human species are finding themselves more and more empowered to affect change. Meanwhile, as Globalization is increasing and the world improving effects of free trade become apparent, the power and the authority of the nation state is eroding – leading some states to take desperate actions.
Not all the changes taking place are positive. As individual powers increase, groups in power are increasingly cracking down on civil rights, imposing ideals and reality definitions and seeking to manipulate status quo culture to further entrench their positions of influence. Likewise, as Globalization expands the boundaries of various cultures, we see an increase in the territorial spread of status quo culture and politics. Around the world, freedom is being suppressed in the name of security and gross violations to human rights are being overlooked because of economic benefits. The corruption amongst political agents of power is allowing science, law and ethics to be determined by the highest bidder.
Of course, these complex problems are met with a response by the public, but often times these responses are misguided and rarely are aimed at the causal factors. Globalization and market based economies are purely a positive force but are met with opposition that should be aimed at legislative bodies and the corruption that takes place within those institutions. Issues of security are met with a crack down on the freedoms of those who are supposed to be protected thus empowering those who wish to harm us and our way of life. In reality, security issues could be resolved with better foreign policy and fewer subsidies to support incompetent industries. We cannot artificially lower the price of a commodity – like oil – of which the very use destroys the environment and promotes death. We cannot reward nations with investment capital – like China and Saudi Arabia- unless those nations are supporting basic human rights such as life, liberty and property. Yet we reward those very same governments that are antithetical to what we stand for as we import from countries that shit on human rights and let them finance our deficit spending. We are buying barrels upon barrels of oil from the very people who fund terror. Climate change is now a scientific fact and while reporters play the blame game and scientists collect their interest group funding, no one is talking about what to do – certainly not our political leaders. When the choice of who we want to represent us comes down to choosing between the lesser of two evils, something is wrong.
In the midst of all this there is hope. The landscape is changing ever faster and stronger as we approach the infinity point of technological Singularity and unlimited novelty. We are truly on the brink of a radical affirmation of life or abandonment to death. The decisions we make now and the vision we set for our futures will determine which way we go. We can no longer make plays for the short term at the expense of the long term. We cannot continue to nihilistically disregard consequences we won’t be alive to see when we have a responsibility to the human species. (Not to mention that current advances in life sciences are making it likely that extended life spans will transform our notion of what the short-term really is). If we want to make it past the Brink then we must stick to our principles and what we Know is Right. Life, Liberty, Property are the principles we must stand for. Uninhibited scientific research, a full embrace of individual autonomy, and Markets free from political influence are what will embody those principles. If our resolve falters, it is only the void of death that will catch our fall.
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