Re: Re: [Pen-l] Peak Oil?

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

me:
>> right. All else equal, it's a good thing if people believe we're running out of oil -- whether it's true or not -- since it pushes people to move over to energy sources that are not based on petrochemicals. I wish people thought we were running out of coal, too.<<

David B. Shemano wrote:
> Hmm.  Charles Brown has defended the Soviet Union, whatever its faults, in that it replaced "superstition" with enlightenment, but you appear to be advocating that it is good in certain cases for the masses to be misinformed. > So Plato Devine, what other noble lies do you recommend that the masses believe?<

I'd rather have people believe the truth (as I see it, natch). What
I'm saying is belief that oil is running out may be what we Econ-jocks
call "second best." If we can't get the truth out -- partly because a
bunch of leftists so strongly believe in "peak oil" -- at least we can
take some consolation in the kind of behavior that results from a very
specific kind of ignorance.

(Note that I used the phrase "all else equal" above. It's only "all
else equal" (when we can't end ignorance) that a specific kind of
ignorance is o.k.)

By the way, I prefer Aristotle to Plato (despite some of the very
obnoxious details of the former's philosophy).
-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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