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I did not mean to open up the AGW can of worms, but here is the broader issue. It seems like people have drifted apart on so many issues, that their views of reality seems to be driven by political identity rather than rationality. This cuts both ways, and makes us dumber, and more easily manipulated.
Once computers learn how irrational and easily duped we are, it will be very hard to coexist with a vastly superior intellect that is not compelled to "feel" right about all sorts of complex issues, but will pursue what actually works. They will be hyperinformed and hyperanalytical, and meanwhile we keep braying like asses.
Perhaps it is foolish to think even the smartest and most rational humans will compete with machines for more than a couple more decades, so the point could well be moot. However, I find the militant stupidity of extreme partisans (e.g., the John Birch wing and the political correctness Nazis) to be exactly the wrong behavior at this critical time.
There are scores of threads already on global warming, so I won't rehash that. My position is that I am not an not a professor or even a student of atmospheric sciences, so I don't know. Having studied economics, and econometrics, I am inherently suspicious of an over-reliance on computer modeling and a lack of empirical data.
Can you explain to me how it is that liberals do not seem to believe in downward-sloping demand curves, and the simple algebra that shows that if demand curves slope down, and supply curves slope up, minimum wage laws necessarily hurt those whom they are supposed to help?
What does minimum wage have to do with this? Are you implying liberals are clueless on this topic?
If so, I will remind you that partisanship breeds delusional perspectives on both sides. I never claimed otherwise. The point was that partisans cling to such ideas for identity reasons, not because they work. That is just dumb. And scary.
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