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"string theory lied to us and now science communication is hard"
(www.youtube.com)
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this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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I've been watching a lot of her videos lately! I found the one on Gell-Mann amnesia to be really interesting and linked it here the other day; maybe a good one for a next watch if you haven't picked yet.
Definitely, thanks for the suggestion! 😄
Her video on the most important material in science (spoiler: it's glass) is my favourite video of hers so far. Another one is on robots doesn't need to be in human form.
Fun fact, Michael Crichton (that one) coined that, Gell-Mann amnesia after Murray Gell-Mann, who had nothing to do with it.
Less fun fact, Micheal Crichton was an active climate change denialist.
In one public debate his team argued so convincingly that the audience went from 57% believing climate change was a global crisis down to 46% after the debate.
Given the climate (pun) of politics at the time he was alive and playing that role, and given that hindsight has taught us An Inconvenient Truth was more political than it was based in science, and given that Crichton's argument was that environmentalism had to be apolitical in order to ever be effective .... yeah I'm not a climate change denier but neither was Crichton.
Crichton was a Democrat. And he was right, Al Gore's movie was about fear-driven politics, not actionable goals and plans.
Go look at how climate scientists described that movie. "The basic truth and it's inconvenience remains" one researcher was quoted saying. Tacitly admitting everything beyond the basic truth of the film was inaccurate. Go on, check out what retrospectives have to say about it. There's a lot of em.
Again, Crichton was right, and he was absolutely not in denial of climate change. He was against using social problems with scientific solutions as political ammunition in the fear cannons.
Bottom line is any time someone insists a complex problem has a solution as simple and clear cut as "vote Democrat", they're wrong. More wrong than they are right, especially given any timeline longer than 4 years. And that's exactly what you're doing here. "Crichton deviated from the party line on the environment ergo he's just a 'denier'". There's far more nuance in this life than that.
The approach to climate change cannot ever be apolitical. Once you see the facts, it's very fucking clear what's happening, why it's happening, and what must be done to stop it, and simply "vote democrat" has never been the answer.
Further, nothing is ever apolitical, cannot be, and should not bel. Your politics, biases, and overall worldview affect everything you do. It's easy to say you're "apolitical" when your views align with the status quo. But status quo does not mean neutrality.
There are no solutions to climate change that are contingent on a particular party being in power in a single nation when the problem isn't confined to a single nation. Making the environment about Democrats over Republicans is wildly dangerous because it breeds contentment: people think they did their part in electing the "right" person and stop giving a damn. Politics isn't going to offer a solution to climate change, but they'll certainly tell you they've got em.
Tell me you're okay with being lied to in order to be made afraid, tell me you're okay with science being misrepresented for political brownie points, and I'll tell you you're no better than a grubby politician yourself, because that's all that standpoint serves. Political brownie points. It's "ends justify the means" logic. "Its fine to fear monger and lie and misrepresent facts as long as you're doing so on support of the right ideology" is wildly stupid and dangerous reasoning.
Who is lying and fearmongering? The only ones lying or misrepresenting data are people who deny that climate change is happening or that it's as severe as it is.
And while I have no faith in Democrats in the US to do anything meaningful, because they haven't, it's undeniable that when Republicans are in power, things get significantly worse. In the US we have one party that has no spine or will to do anything, and another that is not only actively denying climate change, but seeks to continue actions that accelerate it, all while gutting regulatory bodies and dismantling previous efforts.
However
If you think scientists and activists are lying and misrepresenting the data, then you haven't actually looked at the data. I'm not going to debate the realities of climate change with you or anyone else. The data is incontrovertible. There aren't two sides here, and debate only gives credence to people who try to claim it isn't happening.
The core of the issue is human greed. And that greed is given free reign under capitalism. Capitalism is the problem, and it's end is the only way forward. That is a political issue and, short of people forming militias and destroying fossil fuel companies, is going to have to be dealt with in a political arena.
Notice that never once have I said "vote Democrat" or "I endorse fearmongering to get people to vote Democrat"
I'm also just going to hop in here to note that you two seem to be making fairly similar points:
While there are clearly some differences in worldview here, it might be more productive to explore where you can find common ground on this issue.
I might be wrong, but I suspect that if I were to ask both of you to discuss what it is we should actually be doing about climate change I'd get two very similar responses, probably just differing on which things should get the most emphasis. (In fact, I am asking that, if you feel you can take the time to answer.)
I would argue that only politics is going to offer a real solution here. Individual actions can help, but climate change is a huge problem that will take coordination on a massive scale to deal with. Politics is how we do that. "Politics" means much more than just which box you tick come election season.
That dirty motherfucker wrote a whole-ass book denying climate change.