Hot Air Again
I did perhaps the nerdiest Bloggingheads in the history of Bloggingheads last week.
The topic was climate change. Ryan Avent is the charming, reasonable, good-looking guy on the left; I’m the guy doing the passable impression of Dr. Strangelove on the right.
You can see the fun here.
I definitely think you win this Jim.
Here’s my scoring.
1 point to Ryan for better mecha— you NEED his mic.
10 points to Jim for better maths.
1 point to Ryan for hair spike.
10 points to Jim for striking resemblance to Vin Diesel in Riddick.
-20 points to Ryan for profound economic, cultural and sociobiological naivite.
Manzi FTW!
— matoko_chan · Sep 30, 02:50 PM · #
Great dialog. You may have answered this in a previous post, but I had a quick question about your impact calculus. Given the fact that global warming may have a disproportionate effect on extremely poor regions, is it possible that a purely economic analysis may miss some of the costs associated with climate change? In other words, is it possible that environmental devastation in a poor country may be worse than, say, a prolonged recession in the developed world, even if conventional economic metrics can’t capture this?
— Will · Sep 30, 02:59 PM · #
IMHO the most salient part of the discussion is global compliance.
Or non-compliance.
Ryan’s analogy to the WTO is an epic fail…..because WTO made everyone richer.
We simply don’t have the technology to make carbon reduction cost viable, let alone cost beneficial.
— matoko_chan · Sep 30, 03:10 PM · #
Vin Diesel? Please — Henry Rollins ftw. Wikipedia link in my name, although concert photos of a shaved-headed, shirtless, tattooed Rollins screaming into the mic may show an even stronger resemblance…
— Rover · Sep 30, 03:27 PM · #
Will:
I tired to address distributional ethics at some length here:
http://theamericanscene.com/2008/06/17/scientific-american-and-climate-change-i-distributional-ethics
Best,
Jim
— Jim Manzi · Sep 30, 03:31 PM · #
hmmm..i should have said cost-neutral instead of cost-viable.
Rollins is good too….but i prefer my head candy of Jim in a leather wife-beater and tatts.
;)
— matoko_chan · Sep 30, 03:57 PM · #
A dangerously strong assertion…
— Justin · Sep 30, 04:16 PM · #
I’m certain this exchange is some sort of policy-geek fetish porn.
— Peter Suderman · Sep 30, 05:08 PM · #
Eew. I’m closing comments before our incoming Google searches get any worse.
— Matt Frost · Sep 30, 05:14 PM · #