[FRIAM] Murdoch and Trump

[Steven A Smith]

>  
>
> Fortunately it seems that the earth is warming much slower than what
> the models predicted. So just maybe we have hope?
>
Pieter -

Thanks for offering up the positive element of hope in this context.  
It is easy to project our "worst fears" and "greatest hopes" onto the
natural uncertainty that comes with formal and informal prognostication.  

When the "stakes" are as high as "inhabitability of the planet" in our
children/grandchildren's lifetime, it is easy to convolve those stakes
with even the lowest likelihoods of a given outcome.

Conversely, when the "stakes" involve the likely end of a lucrative
crap-shoot, those with the highest investment in the game are going to
want to downplay the likelihoods and even risks as much as possible
while they "sneak out of the game" and try to "game the next system" or
even "create the next game".

There is a LOT more afoot with our extreme industrial "competence" or
"efficacy" than mere "atmospheric surface temperature"...  dissolved CO2
in the oceans, the attendant acidification, and the impact on the entire
marine ecosystem of which biogenic calcification is a critical element.  

The biosphere is a *complex system* which has both self-regulating
mechanisms *and* potential bifurcation points...  while we have (and
continue to see) some of the feedback loops working (more CO2 supports
more vigorous plant growth/photosynthesis) in favor of limiting
atmospheric greenhouse gasses, there are coupled feedback loops (like
rapid plant growth creating *local* O2 enrichment, leading to harsher
wildfires based on post-growing season concentrations of dry biomass and
enhanced O2)...

My favorite definition of "hope" is "doing the right thing, no matter
how you think that is going to turn out". 

Of course, those who we label "climate deniers" are *hoping*... some
hoping that there IS no anthropogenic climate change, others hoping that
they can amass enough wealth/power to avoid the consequences to
themselves and their filial interests.

And of course, the rest of us *hoping* that if we just act quickly and
significantly enough, that the worst of the effects can be avoided and
the worst effects can be ameliorated.

One distinction between the "left" and the "right" seems to involve how
worried we might be about the consequences to those who are not
significantly implicated in "the problem" and are likely least able to
endure them.   Maybe the likes of Trump and Murdoch really are concerned
about "the little people", but I see very little overt evidence of that.

- Steve

>  
>
>  
>
> image.png
>
>  
>
> _https://judithcurry.com/2015/12/17/climate-models-versus-climate-reality/_
>
>
> On Sat, 18 Jan 2020 at 22:36, Jochen Fromm <jofr at cas-group.net
> <mailto:jofr at cas-group.net>> wrote:
>
>     Trump's channel Fox News is owned by the Australian Murdoch
>     family. Can two families ruin the entire planet? Trump in America
>     and Murdoch in Australia are creating tremendous damage. If
>     Climate Change leads to an uninhabitable world, as David
>     Wallace-Wells describes in his book, these two families certainly
>     contributed to it
>     https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GVPFH5V/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
>
>
>     The Washington Post writes:
>     "When we think of industries that must change to prevent further
>     global warming, we tend to imagine carbon-intensive concerns such
>     as mining, aviation and energy production. But the Murdoch media
>     and the rest of the climate denialist industry will also need a
>     transition plan. They do not have long to implement it."
>     https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/16/australias-catastrophic-fires-are-moment-reckoning-murdochs-media-empire/
>
>     -Jochen
>
>
>     ============================================================
>     FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
>     Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
>     to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
>     archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
>     FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
> archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20200119/967c331f/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 423974 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20200119/967c331f/attachment-0001.png>