“Perhaps Greta’s message for politicians to listen to the scientists and take real action has hit home. In one sense, they are already well on the way to following her advice. They read chapter 10 of IPCC’s AR5 report, where they learned that climate change is important – but that other socioeconomic developments matter much…
“One-size-fits-all solutions in our political discourse are often made to work for every topic globally. Reality is not like that, as both economic and ecologic matters frequently assert.” ~ Joakim Book
“If we avoided the hysteria that eagerly thought this pandemic was either the end of globalization or the end of the human race, we all thought this would be a temporary nuisance in our lives. Instead, the virus is deceptively permanent and I don’t mean biologically. We haven’t really moved on from corona – it…
“Drawing superficially on many different fields with narrative case-studies to illustrate a major point keeps the story refreshing – but risks becoming detached, unconvincing and plainly wrong.” ~ Joakim Book
“We might, as the protesters I heard on the radio, remember that other things matter too, that one type of risk must be balanced by the harms of another, that risk-mitigating policies be proportionate to the damage, that few things warrant the wholesale closing of commerce and civil society.” ~ Joakim Book
“The environmentalists had a field day during the corona pandemic. The anti-human policies they have called for, protested for, disrupted societies and other people’s lives for, were suddenly implemented en masse, albeit on a temporary basis. Think of it as a trial for green policies.” ~ Joakim Book
“To prevent a mining company from using land sacred to someone else, there exists a payment of money such that the conflict can be resolved. You just have to find it, negotiate it, raise the money – and pay. In the age of vast crowdsourcing and rapid information, that shouldn’t be much of a problem.”…
“Ideologues have no patience with nuances…It’s ‘go vegan’ or ‘go home.’ It doesn’t matter much what the facts are, as long as The Cause is advanced.” ~ Joakim Book
“Many of the extraordinary policies we see governments wielding right now are not as unprecedented as some commentators may think.” ~ Joakim Book
We live with many of these so-called shortcomings – ignorance, present bias, expansive financial services, pleasure-seeking consumerism, price stability – because we want to and because our psychology and biology implores us to. Not, as bitcoin bros would have you believe, because of fiat money regimes.