[ExI] cure for global warming is working

[spike]

... On Behalf Of Damien Broderick
Subject: Re: [ExI] cure for global warming is working

On 12/21/2010 3:31 PM, Anders Sandberg wrote:
> An interesting issue is that the markets do not seem to be pricing 
> like they expect climate to be a big problem...

Barbara comments:

>...Insurance companies seem to be anticipating rises in sea level...

This is interesting.  Insurance companies are entering a bet.  The customer
is betting a bad outcome will occur, the company is betting it will not.
Insurance companies can make a *ton* of money off of the perception of risk
of rising sea levels, while actually betting against it.  The time scale for
rising sea level is not the same as the flash-in-the-pan time scale of any
insurance company.  They profit from playing up the risk posed by sea level
change, or perhaps more accurately, they profit from merely trading on
perceptions of risk already in place.  

Insurance companies recognize that sex sells, but death sells even better.

>... quite a bit of research is being done on crops that are less sensitive
to temperature extremes (especially high temps) than existing crops...
Damien Broderick

Ja, but I would interpret this alternatively than researchers anticipating
higher peak temperatures from global warming.  Rather we have vast expanses
of existing dry hot land (such as Mexico and your Texas) into which
agriculture can profitably expand, should we figure out how to develop crops
capable of withstanding higher temperatures and longer dry spells.  A more
heat-tolerant strain of wheat for instance would be worth a cubic buttload
of money immediately, regardless of future climate.

spike