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Originally Posted by SameOldStory
Fallen Angels by Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven and Michael Flynn
Free at webscription.net
I had completely forgotten about this book. I read it a long time ago so it may will be dated.
Synopsis
"That government, dedicated to saving the environment from the evils of technology, had been voted into power because everybody knew that the Green House Effect had to be controlled, whatever the cost. But who would have thought that the cost of ending pollution would include not only total government control of day-to-day life, but the onset of a new Ice Age "
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As much as I love science fiction in general and Larry Niven in particular, this is not scientific research. I've read the book, and it was entertaining, but not especially convincing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SameOldStory
- Legalizing "compulsory abortions," ie forced abortions carried out against the will of the pregnant women, as is common place in Communist China where women who have already had one child and refuse to abort the second are kidnapped off the street by the authorities before a procedure is carried out to forcibly abort the baby.
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I have to take issue with this. I have two daughters adopted from China, one of whom I know to have been a second child, clearly not forcibly aborted. I'm not saying this has never happened in China (or elsewhere), but it is not the universal or widespread practice that some seem to feel confident in referring to. This kind of comment does nothing to support the credibility of this reviewer.
I heard a really good interview on Science Friday on the subject of climate science a while back. You can read a transcript here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...54&ft=1&f=1007
Nice quote:
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Prof. JENKINS-SMITH: Well, there are a number of different filters that we have in place when we take in information of a complex nature... most people have relatively coherent sets of beliefs about how the world operates and should operate. These are combinations of values that we hold about what matters, and how we should live our lives, and how we should be related to other people. And these types of values guide what we expect from the world around us. So if you are an individualist and you don't like lots of constraints imposed upon you from the outside, particularly governmental constraints, you're going to be skeptical of claims that would justify extensive governmental intervention in your life.... If on the other hand you believe that there is a substantial role for government and that the government is there to mediate big problems that are generated by human action, you're more sympathetic to those kinds of claims.
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I am not "pro-government," nor am I an anarchist or conspiracy theorist. I have reviewed the data as well as the structural arguments supporting or denying the problem of human-created climate change, and I find the threat credible. I understand that there are other people in this forum who do not find the threat credible, or think that specific proposed measures to reduce the threat are unacceptable. I am not doubting anyone else's intelligence or good intentions, and I would appreciate the same courtesy in return.