I just came upon your substack today and have read a large portion of your articles. There is a lot of valuable material in them. I found numerous insights and well-presented arguments.
Nevertheless, your anti-religious bias is quite apparent, and I would hazard to guess that you do not have much detailed knowledge of religion, in general or in particular. It seems to me that your mental picture of religion is quite cartoon-like, formed from stereotypes, extremes, and bad examples.
All of which leads me to conclude that you are firmly located upon Mount Piety with regards to religion. This is an irony and a terrible blind spot for someone who writes about how other people's confidence in speaking out about a topic vastly exceeds their knowledge on that topic.
Lastly, intellectual exploration into sociological topics should be taken in order to understand, rather than to mock those less erudite or intellectual than oneself, or to signal one's own superiority to them. Otherwise, it's merely a parade.
Piety is the virtue whereby we recognize our debts, in particular of honor and respect, towards those upon whom our being and thriving principally depend: God, parents, kin, country. Piety is akin to humility. I'm not sure what you think piety is. I would rename Mount Piety Mount Sophomore.
Great essay- seemingly short and simple breakdowns, usually tend to disguise a good deal of very deep intellectual probing into the subject matter. I would rate myself at around the hill of mediocrity on climate change- there is always the trade-off of opportunity cost, when one wants to write across a range of subjects.
My take on climate change it that it is a serious long range problem, which doesn't the rate the climate alarmism and apocalypse porn which is part of the ignorati's daily diet. Most people who go on about it haven't even bothered to read any of the more recent IPPC reports- if they had then they would know that the IPCC has assessed that by 2100, climate mitigation will cost around 3% of global GDP per annum, set against a general growth of between 300% and 1000%, based upon most economists assessment of growth- mostly in the developed world. Poorer people living better lives sounds good to me.
Have you read The Honest Broker. He is on Substack as well. His two part analysis of the most recent IPCC report is particularly compelling- it illustrates in general why, contrary to conventional narratives, the most recent report is grounds for cautious optimism. I would also heartily recommend both Michael Shellenberger and Bjorn Lomborg on the subject.
One of the most frustrating things I find about the subject is that Sweden and France, with their cheap, safe and plentiful nuclear power have achieved far more than Germany or California in the area of climate change, and they have done so without harming the working poor, or killing their commerce. For the record, maximum estimates for the total number of people killed by nuclear power is around 3,000, whilst an expert worth their salt will tell you that it has saved countless millions through the reduction of radioactive coal ash..
I have been toying with writing on essay on the subject, suggesting the tiny Tobin tax as a means for countries with thriving financial markets to equip a new generation of safer nuclear power. Unfortunately, the unique risk profile of nuclear (especially because of irrational consumer fears), means that it is a project which can only really be undertaken by sovereign funding and underwriting- attempts to PFI the finance or make the market bear the risk (although they should bear some, to avoid perverse incentives) always results in projects or energy prices being needlessly expensive.
My other pet hate is the fact that they never include the installation costs of solar- which means the comparison stats are rigged! It also doesn't provide the well-paid jobs which it displaces- and do they really expect all those minimally paid young men to climb up ladders in their fifties? Concentrated solar has its own problems, including environmental damage (mainly to birds) and low energy density.
Again, great essay. I covered the issue myself from a different angle recently https://geary.substack.com/p/how-climate-alarmism-could-plunge/comments . It details how climate austerity or energy poverty in the West, could potentially plunge the developing world into a new dark age of global poverty, through the destruction of their consumer markets. It draws upon the experience of CoV2 and the 120 to 150 million people it pushed back into living on under $1.90 a day.
I think the additional reason that most stay on mount piety, is because to gain that knowledge means sinking into doubt that you know anything about anything and self doubt, either cripples some or makes them stronger. Most mire about in the swamp of doubt, only to scramble back up the nearest ledge to the mountain they have already stood on. Some, embrace the mire, sludge their way through because they sense there is a ledge, just under the surface to the other side. I think power has it's influence, but I don't believe there are more natural meglomaniacs in the world than erudite, but maybe that's because I don't want to believe it. So I'm climbing my own mt piety, called hope.
I just came upon your substack today and have read a large portion of your articles. There is a lot of valuable material in them. I found numerous insights and well-presented arguments.
Nevertheless, your anti-religious bias is quite apparent, and I would hazard to guess that you do not have much detailed knowledge of religion, in general or in particular. It seems to me that your mental picture of religion is quite cartoon-like, formed from stereotypes, extremes, and bad examples.
All of which leads me to conclude that you are firmly located upon Mount Piety with regards to religion. This is an irony and a terrible blind spot for someone who writes about how other people's confidence in speaking out about a topic vastly exceeds their knowledge on that topic.
Lastly, intellectual exploration into sociological topics should be taken in order to understand, rather than to mock those less erudite or intellectual than oneself, or to signal one's own superiority to them. Otherwise, it's merely a parade.
Brilliant summary of Dunning-Kruger !!
Question: How is this comparable to ideas from Rao and Danco, notably:
- Curse of development (D-K being advantageous to power, "chess pigeon" behavior) https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/04/14/the-gervais-principle-iii-the-curse-of-development/
- Deviation between prestige and power, and how prestige is "detachment from reality" https://alexdanco.com/2021/01/22/the-michael-scott-theory-of-social-class/
- Gervais Principle at large (Being overly knowledgeable is inseparable from being conformist and a "tool" of the powerful) https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/02/04/the-genealogy-of-the-gervais-principle/
Piety is the virtue whereby we recognize our debts, in particular of honor and respect, towards those upon whom our being and thriving principally depend: God, parents, kin, country. Piety is akin to humility. I'm not sure what you think piety is. I would rename Mount Piety Mount Sophomore.
Great essay- seemingly short and simple breakdowns, usually tend to disguise a good deal of very deep intellectual probing into the subject matter. I would rate myself at around the hill of mediocrity on climate change- there is always the trade-off of opportunity cost, when one wants to write across a range of subjects.
My take on climate change it that it is a serious long range problem, which doesn't the rate the climate alarmism and apocalypse porn which is part of the ignorati's daily diet. Most people who go on about it haven't even bothered to read any of the more recent IPPC reports- if they had then they would know that the IPCC has assessed that by 2100, climate mitigation will cost around 3% of global GDP per annum, set against a general growth of between 300% and 1000%, based upon most economists assessment of growth- mostly in the developed world. Poorer people living better lives sounds good to me.
Have you read The Honest Broker. He is on Substack as well. His two part analysis of the most recent IPCC report is particularly compelling- it illustrates in general why, contrary to conventional narratives, the most recent report is grounds for cautious optimism. I would also heartily recommend both Michael Shellenberger and Bjorn Lomborg on the subject.
One of the most frustrating things I find about the subject is that Sweden and France, with their cheap, safe and plentiful nuclear power have achieved far more than Germany or California in the area of climate change, and they have done so without harming the working poor, or killing their commerce. For the record, maximum estimates for the total number of people killed by nuclear power is around 3,000, whilst an expert worth their salt will tell you that it has saved countless millions through the reduction of radioactive coal ash..
I have been toying with writing on essay on the subject, suggesting the tiny Tobin tax as a means for countries with thriving financial markets to equip a new generation of safer nuclear power. Unfortunately, the unique risk profile of nuclear (especially because of irrational consumer fears), means that it is a project which can only really be undertaken by sovereign funding and underwriting- attempts to PFI the finance or make the market bear the risk (although they should bear some, to avoid perverse incentives) always results in projects or energy prices being needlessly expensive.
My other pet hate is the fact that they never include the installation costs of solar- which means the comparison stats are rigged! It also doesn't provide the well-paid jobs which it displaces- and do they really expect all those minimally paid young men to climb up ladders in their fifties? Concentrated solar has its own problems, including environmental damage (mainly to birds) and low energy density.
Again, great essay. I covered the issue myself from a different angle recently https://geary.substack.com/p/how-climate-alarmism-could-plunge/comments . It details how climate austerity or energy poverty in the West, could potentially plunge the developing world into a new dark age of global poverty, through the destruction of their consumer markets. It draws upon the experience of CoV2 and the 120 to 150 million people it pushed back into living on under $1.90 a day.
I think the additional reason that most stay on mount piety, is because to gain that knowledge means sinking into doubt that you know anything about anything and self doubt, either cripples some or makes them stronger. Most mire about in the swamp of doubt, only to scramble back up the nearest ledge to the mountain they have already stood on. Some, embrace the mire, sludge their way through because they sense there is a ledge, just under the surface to the other side. I think power has it's influence, but I don't believe there are more natural meglomaniacs in the world than erudite, but maybe that's because I don't want to believe it. So I'm climbing my own mt piety, called hope.