[ExI] Wash post comment

Jeff Davis jrd1415 at gmail.com
Sun May 20 20:38:36 UTC 2012


On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 1:40 AM, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
> Jeff, I know that you're very good with finding information.
> It's strange that you do not put these talents into use to
> find materials like this
> http://resourceinsights.blogspot.de/2008/09/net-energy-cliff.html
> and http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8625


Gene,

I checked out the two links.

We've been acquainted for goin' on fifteen years now.  I've admired --
and still do -- your talent and your accomplishments, even to the
point of concluding that you're smarter than I am, which is saying
something considering the size of my ego.  But I think you've fallen
off the cliff on this one.

I read the two links, and it looks to me like the "We're doomed!
We're doomed!" energy catastrophe echo chamber. (That's been my
impression of The Oil Drum for some time now.)   It's a version of
that human weirdness that gives us the "Truthers" and the "Birthers".
When enough people get together and reinforce each other's belief in
something, it becomes like received truth.  It's religious, it's
tribal, it's weird, and it can sometimes be scary.  And I'm not saying
I'm above it all, under the right circumstances any of us can fall
victim to this kind of "stuff".  Just the right kind of
misinterpretable "evidence" is all it takes. (For the Truthers it was
the striking visual similarity between the collapse of the WTC towers
and the collapse of buildings in fact brought down by controlled
demolition.)  At which point otherwise level-headed people just go all
"whacko".

So, on this one issue, let's just agree to disagree.

Best, Jeff Davis

        "Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
                                         Ray Charles



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