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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   32426 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 31, 2022

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Your argument justifies any and all long term thinking the same way what I said justifies short. Both are necessary for a functional society however. And I would argue that in this situation, where we are required to make a trade off between them, we should go with the one that doesn't hurt people who actually physically exist.

As for the coal miners "forcing 330 million citizens to live under a worse energy policy so that 62 thousand of them don't have to re-educate themselves into a different profession" avoiding that sounds fantastic. Sadly however, it also sounds fantastic, as in not based in reality. Which countries have benefited from shutting down coal power?

Also you implied your grandchildren are better than his to the exact same extent that Trump implied that coal miner is better than your grandchildren. If you never implied it, neither did Trump.

Regarding nuclear, you are right that his enemies would not be less critical than they currently are. Because they would be a thousand times more critical. Environmentalists don't care about the benefits of nuclear power, they are too concerned about the potential dangers.

Edit: forgot a word

I'll concede that my long-term thinking argument was a slippery slope. I should have constrained it by something like "moving to nuclear power sooner rather than later will be advantageous in this half century."

I'm not sure I understand your question about which countries have benefited from shutting down coal power. I want to say--all of them--which is why more governments are building reactors. India and China are building multiple reactors, and I suspect the cleanliness of the energy is secondary to its abundance, which also entails a larger degree of sovereignty. This seems obvious to me, which is why I think we're coming at this from very different angles. What's good about coal power? Does it outweigh the benefits of cheaper, more abundant sources?

I don't think his enemies would be a thousand times more critical. They're already at max critique. They'd critique him for using the wrong side of toilet paper to wipe his butt. Note that I don't consider myself in that camp. I just think he's lacking as a leader.

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