Wednesday, January 16, 2008
If humans cause global climate change, then God might exist after all
Craven's argument is that debate over whether or not humans caused global warming is pointless; instead, Craven suggests, “the risk of not acting far outweighs the risk of acting.”
On the one hand, regulations to counter global warming trends could trigger an economic downturn, Craven posits. But at its worst, climate change could bring droughts, famine, floods, dust bowls, economic collapse and the displacement of millions.
The potential consequences are severe enough, Craven says in his video, to make “Al Gore look like a sissy Pollyanna with no guts who sugarcoated the bad news.”
Via isen.blog, Oregon science teacher a mega-hit on YouTube
I watched his video presentation and the thing that struck me the most about it is that his argument, calling for action to stop climate change (hmm … what happened to “global warming?”) despite evidence either way, reminds me much of a similar argument used for the existence of God—Pascal's Wager, which goes something like this:
| God Exists | God does not Exist | |
|---|---|---|
| Belive God Exists | Infinite life in Heaven | Simply Dead |
| Believe God does not Exist | Infinite torture in Hell | Simply Dead |
Greg Craven's argument is similar:
| Act Now | Do Nothing | |
|---|---|---|
| Climate Change not caused by Humans | Wasted money causing world wide economic recession | Status quo |
| Climate Change caused by Humans | Money not wasted, Earth saved, who needs an economy anyway? | Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes … The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together—mass hysteria. |
And Mr. Craven's position is “Act Now” (who needs an economy anyway?). But
than again, if global warming climate change is caused by us
humans, I guess it wasn't a good idea to
launch all those probes throughout the solar system.
