Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (51190)	3/1/2008 5:11:40 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 544044

Karen - First, I'll grant you that some people are predisposed to promote threats in more hysterical tones. I do think, however, that there's a significant difference between "catastrophic" and "existential." Catastrophes occur regularly, but entire civilizations don't collapse very often. Thus it seems very different to me to say, "We must do X or the Muslims will establish a worldwide caliphate and all our women will be wearing burqas," as opposed to saying, "We need to do X or there is a high probability that some catastrophic events will occur." I made no assumptions about whether you had seen any data previously. You asked for a source of data that shows global warming is an "existential" threat. I responded with a link to data that show, in a non-hysterical way, what the threat is. I guess what this whole exchange arose from was my inference, probably incorrect now that I think about it, that you were saying that anybody who believes global warming is real and a problem is as loony as people who think the muslims are going to destroy us. My original response was "There seems to be a lot more evidence that global climate change may have significant negative consequences than there is to support the idea that a few thousand radical muslims are going to take over the world." I'll stand by that statement. You've agreed that the data showing terrorism to be an existential threat is nil. I have supplied data that show that global warming may have significant negative consequences. But the statement I was responding to included a reference to Chicken Little, so I should have realized that you were referring only to the people who get hysterical about either problem. Is that a fair interpretation of what you said? - Allen PS: Sorry for being so long-winded about it.