Sunday, July 08, 2007

Spurious Associations

The 'Live Earth' concerts were intended to raise awareness about global warming. Yet several performers sported t-shirts with the slogan: "Say No to Nuclear Energy". Is this the left-wing equivalent of linking Iraq with 9/11?

I wonder how common it would be for people to accept just one or the other alleged connection. Perhaps this could provide a quick test of tribal affiliation?

9 comments:

  1. I am in general against global warming and in general pro nuclear energy (for the same reason).
    Yes I think it is a fairly good test I'm just a contrary person.

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  2. I'm afraid I am still baffled by the whole notion. A rock concert against consumption? Which involves a huge amount of consumption? Some record executive somewhere has a strong sense of irony...

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  3. I guess the idea is that not only forward steps are required to get to a destination - ie that the benefit of the political symbolism of so many people making a stand is more than the damage of the actual concert.

    BTW what is your position on nuclear energy and global warming for the record?

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  4. David - so long as it prevents more damage than it causes, I don't see the problem.

    Genius - *shrug*, I don't really know enough about them to have an official position! It sounds like global warming is a fairly serious problem (though sometimes exaggerated). I'd like to see a carbon tax, or some other way to internalize environmental costs. I'm not opposed to nuclear power in principle, but I don't know enough to assess whether it's worth it in practice.

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  5. good position,
    I should say I support nuclear energy as an option - it may well not be efficient in NZ particularly since we have so much in the way of hydro power options.

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  6. I think that it would be fun to do this in philosophy as well.

    Go to an naturalizing epistemology with a "Stop the wrongful proliferation of analytic truths!" shirt; or a conference on 2D-ism about belief reports with a "MY mind will never supervene on the totality of physical facts!" wifebeater.

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  7. Nuclear waste is a bit worse in some ways than carbon waste, so I can see enough reason to point out that just ending one form of pollution is not enough. A sideline factoid is that both oil and uranium deposits will be depleted in about 60 years.

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  8. Sure, there are other environmental problems besides global warming. (Just like there are other bad guys besides Al Qaeda.) My complaint was the insinuation that they're related -- that nuclear power is a cause of global warming.

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  9. "MY mind will never supervene on the totality of physical facts!"

    woohoo I want one of those

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