March 05, 2007
Preparing To Prepare
There is, most likely, intelligent life in the universe other than what is found here. A certain percentage of those intelligent beings may possess the ability to travel vast interstellar distances in reasonable lengths of time. A certain percentage of these travelers may have hostile intentions with regard to our planet. For this reason, I propose that we spend a significant portion of the world's resources developing earth-bound defenses against alien invasion. Furthermore, we must develop a space fleet capable of meeting the alien threat while still far from Earth.
While the above reasoning may seem bizarre, it is no different than the logic used by those who are pursuing enforcement of things such as the Kyoto Treaty and other "green" international and national laws. To them, the science of global warming has been finalized and you, your friends and their SUVs are the problem. While the mainstream media may support this type of thinking, it is far from the realities of the scientific world.
About 15 years ago, soon after the fall of the Soviet Union, I heard someone say that the environmental movement would become the new home of the leftover communists in Europe and the United States. That statement was prophetic, for if you look at the goals of staunch environmentalists, their ultimate goal is really wealth distribution. It may be disguised as a need to spend more public funds on green technology, but they really want you to be punished for living in a nice home and driving a big car. Why do you think China was exempted from the Kyoto protocols? Because they're a "developing nation"? Hardly---their environmental record is one of the worst on the planet.
Is the planet getting warmer? Maybe, but even that is open for debate. Until we know more, combating a threat that may not even exist is a waste of time and resources.
Posted by Matthew at March 5, 2007 01:44 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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"While the above reasoning may seem bizarre, it is no different than the logic ....."
I completely disagree. Comparing global warming for which there is oodles of data to a hypothetical threat from space aliens is disingenous at best, and in simple terms is flat out wrong. The fact that the planet is getting warmer is not "up for debate" as you have stated. You don't have to believe some left wing agenda driven media to see that. There is a plethora of scientific data out there for you to look at peer reviewed and/or raw data and make up your own mind.
Adding greenhouse gases such as CO2 or CH4 to the atmosphere will cause the earth and the atmosphere to get warmer. That is a well proven theory and contrary to popular belief, is not the main point of contention. The issue is whether increased CO2 emissions are the main contributing factor and the debate over other contributing/mitigating factors.
This debate exists in the grey area of science + politics. Every respectable scientist I have read or heard try and shy away from this line. Scientists like to deal with facts and theories. They don't like to deal with the "what do we do about this? question". I count myself among the same cowardly bunch. That leads to opinions and then we get into unproductive idiotic political debates. In the example cited above, China and India being exempted from the Kyoto protocol is purely a political issue. Ask any respectable scientist and they will tell you if you want to reduce total emissions, no one is exempt, especially not a major contributor. On a % basis, you could probably eliminate someone like Guam or New Zealand.
I also disagree this is a waste of time and resources. Sure we can't eliminate ALL the contributing factors, but that is like saying I can't reduce your chance of dying from cancer or a heart attack to zero, so you shouldn't quit smoking or live a healthy lifestyle. We can't do anything about volcanoes or solar flares so we shouldn't do anything about greenhouse gases. You might as well go stick your head in the sand.
Climate change like everything is a CUMULATIVE effect. We don't spend the time/money/ resources today, we will spend a LOT more time/money/resources tomorrow when things are a LOT worse.
You don't have to worry about the earth. It will balance itself through the simple laws of thermodynamics. The earth doesn't have a problem. The problem arises if the earth after balancing itself is no longer habitable for those space aliens to invade in a couple of hundred years. THAT is our problem.
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at March 5, 2007 05:37 PM