tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post777302991800802515..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: Limitless Harm MoralityAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-49064906480399198892007-04-11T10:50:00.000-06:002007-04-11T10:50:00.000-06:00Great post, Alonzo. I would extend the classificat...Great post, Alonzo. I would extend the classification not only to those who deny global warming or change significant wording in reports. People who attempt to stop attribution of costs of any externalities are essentially doing the same thing.<BR/><BR/>For example: There's an article in Wikipedia about something called a Pigovian tax, which attempts to quantify externalities of economic processes and levy a tax on the offenders.<BR/><BR/>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigovian_tax<BR/><BR/>On two different occasions, someone has gone into that article and placed language saying that it was impossible to properly determine externalities, and hence the tax could never be effectively levied.<BR/><BR/>I went in and edited the article to say that "by current methods" it would not be possible to determine this, but that through better economic modeling, it might be in the future, and it would be a good idea.<BR/><BR/>Then someone came back and changed the entry again to say that it was "theoretically impossible, by any current or future method that could be invented" to determine the proper amounts of these taxes, and therefore the entire idea was invalid.<BR/><BR/>It's amazing how slippery people get when it comes to taking responsibility for their actions. This global warming issue has brought out the absolute worst in people, and amazingly, they justify their positions as if they had some grounding in fact or logic. Camille Paglia is the latest perpetrator of this folly. It's the single biggest example of the subversion of facts and denial of reason that I know of in human history.<BR/><BR/>Every person who participates in the continued production of C02, and I count myself here as well, is indirectly participating in creating flooding, drought, disease, and all the other global warming effects. As you said, this is little different than outright murder of the poor and disadvantaged, which eventually will result in widespread destruction of civilization. <BR/><BR/>We have blood on our hands, pure and simple. We need an effective method to turn this around globally. Buying REC's is a positive step, (it's all most people can do at the moment). But we need government action so that the reductions by one person aren't simply canceled out by another.<BR/><BR/>As for the deniers: grow up and get a clue.BlackSunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15591731325290405256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-23461013552798034132007-04-11T08:20:00.000-06:002007-04-11T08:20:00.000-06:00Someone pointed something out to me, and perhaps y...Someone pointed something out to me, and perhaps you have a better way of articulating it because of your background:<BR/>People can be put into two groups - those who think global warming is real, human caused, and dangerous; and those who think global warming may or may not be real, but in any regard is not human caused and/or not harmful in any meaningful way.<BR/><BR/>The thing to look at in this division is the cost of error. If group A is wrong, then we waste money on environmental tech and can't drive SUVs (though waste actually just means different people are getting paid for items of dubious benefit). If group B is wrong, millions die, including the extinction of several species.<BR/><BR/>So shouldn't we be taking the path with the least risk? And as a bonus, the vast majority of scientists are in group A!<BR/><BR/>One other note: This idea of limitless harm morality is not itself limited to global warming. It is the philosophy behind the trend known as "tort reform". The idea is that people who screw up should not have to pay for the harm they cause.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com