The New Yorker on “Freakonomics” and Global Warming 15 Nov 2009 To be skeptical of climate models and credulous about things like carbon-eating trees and cloudmaking machinery and hoses that shoot sulfur into the sky is to replace a faith in science with a belief in science fiction. This is the turn that “SuperFreakonomics” takes, even as its authors repeatedly extoll their hard-headedness. All of which goes to show that, while some forms of horseshit are no longer a problem, others will always be with us. [Read more] General Science Politics
Politics Is America fascist? 12 Oct 200818 Sep 2017 A while ago, almost exactly two years back, I asked Is the Bush Administration fascist? I think we can now safely say it is, at least in the style of Mussolini and Franco. Now Echidne of the Snakes has a series of articles up on whether the Republicans have so… Read More
Book Book review 27 Jun 2009 A guest review by Richard Harter, a member of the Talk.Origins Old Ones… The Medea Hypothesis, Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive?, Peter Ward, 2009, Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey, ISBN-13: 978-0-691-13075-0 Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity Organic farming – a good idea? 7 Sep 2007 COSMOS magazine has an interesting article sure to stir up trouble by suggesting that, among other things, global organic farming would necessitate clearing all remaining forests and even then a substantial portion of the earth’s population would starve. I don’t know enough about this topic to speak sensibly, but I… Read More