Posted on 04/10/2018 6:45:05 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
A decade ago, the environmental philosopher Timothy Morton invented a new word: hyperobject. It describes something so "massively distributed in time and space relative to humans" that it eludes our understanding. The best example of a hyperobject is climate change. Its scale confounds our perception. It is everywhere-"viscous," as Morton has it - and yet it is hard to see directly. Its implications are so great that they verge on unthinkable.
William T. Vollmann's new book, "No Immediate Danger," tussles with the comprehension-defying nature of climate change. It is a 600-page amalgam of scientific history, cultural criticism, mathematical experiments, risk-benefit analyses of energy production and consumption, and diaristic meanderings through radiation-festooned landscapes post-Fukushima. The effect is bewildering.
It embodies the confusion of our current moment, the insidiousness of disbelief, and the mania-inducing reality that our greatest threat is the hardest to act upon. It is a feverish, sprawling archive of who we are, and what we've wrought.
In describing the vast amounts of research, travel, personal expense, risk and, indeed, energy consumption he engaged in to write this book, Vollmann admits to the reader from the future that much of it had to do with assuaging his own guilt, avoiding the shame of doing nothing. "Well, in the end I did nothing just the same," he concedes. "And the same went for most everyone I knew."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
The good news—we understand fraud!
I love how myopic are the progressives. 40 years ago they were crowing about global cooling. But that truth is too inconvenient, so it’s never mentioned. Everything is nuanced and requires a more recent take. Idiots.
Maybe because there is no there there? Or it is hard to believe lies that reality keeps contradicting. Take your pick.
IOW, “You are too stupid”.
Put Robert Mueller on the investigation of the finances behind the science of global warming. Have fun Robbie.
“the insidiousness of disbelief”
Typical Lefty. If you don’t buy into their mantra, it must be insidious.
Precisely
The mental masterbation that “philosophers” go through is ridiculous. Newton was a philosopher and came up with the laws of motion. These days philosophers come up with nonsense like 878000 genders
I have a hard time comprehending global warming for the same reason I can’t comprehend Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy.
“Why we can’t comprehend climate change”
But we do understand Grade “A” BS.
Oh good grief - I can comprehend it. I don’t believe it given the current evidence present.
It’s funny that the guy is making a religious argument for God though...
Climate change is natural, and like the weather cannot be predicted. We see the effects but cannot identify the cause, because there are incalculable variables spawning new variables exponentially over time.
They never answer how their actions will hurt the poor of not only this country but thru out the world
I know it when I see it, and I ain’t seeing it... And anybody who’s honest with themselves isn’t seeing it either. The weather is the the weather... Period! And making up some sort of mand-made formula for modifying it is not only foolish, it’s outright fraud.
All politicians, pseudo-scientist and pseudo-journalist pushing the idea of global warming, climate change, or whatever moniker they choose to attach to their tax grabbing scheme is a fraudster. Plain and simple.
Any subject is easy to understand—if a _good_ writer gets to explain it!
;-)
I understand grant$ and up-staffing $$$ for crying wolf, corrupt and outcome-driven peer reviews, and manipulated datasets (temperature sensors in parking lots instead of pastures).
I also understand (here in Midwest at 30 degrees with snow now, where it was 70 same time last year) that the Sun is hitting its Grand Minimum, with decades of cooler temperatures possible/likely:
http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/02/08/solar-minimum-may-bring-50-years-of-global-cooling/
Translation: If you don't buy into climate change or it seems like the weather isn't cooperating with the theory that's just because it's so hard for people like you, with little imagination or intelligence, to really understand such a complex issue. But you really are dumb because we have known about it for years. We're smart, trust us.
Morton should take a freshman Geology course if he wants to understand climate change. It would all come into focus then.
They come out with this.......right after we get hit with April snowstorms and a cold snap. Brilliant timing. Don’t believe your lyin’ eyes. Stop shivering! Believe us instead.
Oh and send us your money.
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