jrtom

http://bsalert.com/news/2310/Jimmy_Carters_Proposed_Energy_Policy_In_1977.html

I've been saying that I've been looking forward to Obama being president (*crosses fingers*), in part because it would be nice to have an adult in the position.

I'd managed to forget that we already had one of those recently, and we didn't listen to him. *sigh*

(This doesn't change my mind. But it makes me a bit less optimistic.)

http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge220.html#anderson

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dysonf07/dysonf07_index.html

I personally don't have very much of an opinion about global warming. If pressed, I will assume that it's happening and if left unchecked that its consequences may be disastrous...but I haven't done anything like the kind of meta-analysis that would be necessary in order for me to have an _informed_ opinion.

(For the record, I assume it's happening at least in part because the consequences of that assumption should lead us, in large part, to take actions that I consider to be a good idea anyway, e.g., slowing our consumption of nonrenewable resources and increased efficiency in a variety of contexts.)

Anyway, these are two essays on somewhat-opposed sides of the debate. Dyson's essay is particularly interesting because he spends a fair bit of it talking about the value of scientific heretics and heresies. He may have fallen a bit in love with being a gadfly, but I think that his basic point is sound. Worth reading, and quite readable.