James Lovelock Suggests Suspending Democracy To Save the World

mosb1000 writes "Climate scientist James Lovelock claims it may be necessary to put democracy on hold to prevent a global climate catastrophe. He goes on to say that the best remedies may be adaptation techniques such as building sea defenses." Lovelock is famously the creator of the Gaia hypothesis.

Comments

Um..no

[NiceGeek]

I'm an environmentalist, but I also know that if you put democracy "on hold" it's awfully hard to get it started again.

Re:Um..no

[Tiger4]

Power grabs for the greater good are always done in the best interests of the people. I'm sure our new benevolent dictator(s) will keep us in mind as they shear mercilessly through what we laughingly consider to be our personal rights and privileges while they build a better tomorrow for us all. After all, what benefit to them if we were all enslaved?

Re:Um..no

[spazdor]

Oh, don't be so cynical. All it would take is for everyone in power to radically rearrange their priorities, stop caring about keeping/accumulating more power, and to begin putting the welfare of humankind ahead of their own. Easy peasy.

Re:Um..no

[Anonymous Coward]

You are absolutely right. After reading the GP and your comment. A one world government isn't a monopoly. One can always choose to move to the moon or Mars.

Re:Um..no

[Tiger4]

Some people sacrificing for the greater good is all very well and good. It is often necessary. But some people deciding who will sacrifice, and others having the sacrifice thrust upon them, THAT is what makes the process so irritating or exciting. The who and how of that is what keeps the gears of history lubed with blood.

Re:Um..no

[Courageous]

The way I like to put it, is everyone likes a tyrant as long as he's "my favorite tyrant".

It should be no surprise that there's someone out there in favor of totalitarian rule, as long as it goes the way he wants.

Where do you think the totalitarians get their support?

Anyway, I'm hoping for "my kind of totalitarian". You know, someone who, with a few of his handy goonies, will use main force to put a bullet in this guy's head. I mean, you know, if he's in favor of totalitarianism of they type HE likes, he can't possibly object to the type *I* like, now can he?

C//

Re:Um..no

[zach_the_lizard]

Government is a monopoly, and is in fact the ultimate monopoly. The State has final say on justice and taxation in a certain geographical area; anything less than that would not be a state. Unlike the telco monopoly where you can elect to just not buy their service, you are required by the state to partake in it by virtue of exiting a birth canal in a certain area, or exiting the birth canal of those deemed to be under its jurisdiction (depending on the state in question). Attempting to not obey a state (or found another one) typically does not lead to very happy results, ranging from everything to fines to imprisonment or, in extreme cases, even death. Now, there are many people (most, even) who believe that a state is a required part of life, but it's hard to escape the fact that a state is a monopoly. It's just one that most of us are willing to tolerate, because we feel that it would be in our best interests.

Re:Um..no

[__aasqbs9791]

Um, 1861 to 1865, you might want to check those years out, seems your Encyclopedia set might be missing them.

Re:Um..no

[shutdown -p now]

The idea of a democratic state is that it is better to institute and artificially maintain a monopoly that you have some say in, rather than have one appear naturally in a power vacuum, which you have no say in at all.

Re:Um..no

[Chris Burke]

Global mean temperatures have actually been decreasing in the last years after we hit a solar minimum.

Not it hasn't, it only looks that way if you specifically and only compare 1998 to 2008, which as anyone with a clue knows is a stupid way to analyze trends. This has actually been the hottest decade on record, with 9 of the 10 warmest years on record occurring in it. 2008 was the exception (which is why you folks like to pick it and only it and not look at any other year in the decade), then 2009 was the 2nd hottest, and the warmest year on record, 2005, occurring right near the solar minimum you linked to yourself!

In fact the continued warming in spite of the solar minimum is yet more evidence that the phenomenon is real. Of course, climatologists had already thought of solar cycles as a possible explanation, I know it's hard to believe but yeah it's true they thought of it long before you did, and it doesn't come close to explaining the trend.

Sorry. Not Global Warming. Climate Change. The first moniker was so patently ludicrous it is better to say something nebulous instead.

What's patently ludicrous is that so many people are incapable of understanding something that is not uniform and monotonic, and that a blizzard does not disprove Global Warming. What's equally ridiculous is that scientists actually decided to change the name to accommodate your simplistic thinking. I'll admit that over the twenty years of hearing "Ha! We had a record snow today, 'Global Warming' my ass!" I'm pretty sick of explaining this simple fact. But obviously the name change was pointless -- it's not that you don't understand, it's that you don't want to. Which is why you're repeating twenty year old falsehoods.

Re:Um..no

[Anonymous Coward]

I just want to take this opportunity to remind you all that the "American Third Position" that the above poster is endorsing is a nativist, racist organization. You don't have to take my word for it. If you want to give them hits, you can click through to the link he so helpfully provides and see for yourself that these are just nazis without the cool uniforms, pushing an agenda of "returning America to it's "European" (white) roots" and racial purity.

They're just very polite about it and use very careful, if transparent, language. Here's an example from an article on their site called "US - Ours Much Longer?"

"Americans of European descent must awaken to the very real occurrence of our political and territorial dispossession. Unless our people band together at some point in the near future, children born of our kin, today, will live to see a time when their fair skin is a rarity and civilized society only the phantom of a bygone era." ...blah blah blah, you get the idea. God forbid "fair skin" should become a rarity. You know what that leads to? Rhythm music right from the jungle. Next thing you know, our children will be doing all sorts of wild dances and having relations with Jews and Negros.

They're concerned with maintaining America's "ethnic proportionality". Real nice bunch of fellas.

"Third Position" I can't stop you from posting here, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let you take off your uniform and try to blend into a community I care about. Like Lt. Aldo "The Apache" Rain, I like to be able recognize my nazis.

-PR

Re:Um..no

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone, be aware, "Third Position" is an American Neo-Nazi group that calls for "preservation of the European heritage" of the American population.

They're concerned that in a few generations our children won't still have such fair skin.

When you see this guy acting all normal, like one of the gang, bear in mind you're just dealing with Colonel Hans Landa with his uniform packed neatly away in storage.

I aim to make sure that as long as he posts here, the swastika on his forehead shines brightly. I'm just sorry I've already modded in this discussion, or I'd sign this little warning label, as I have done before.

Re:Um..no

[BrokenHalo]

It takes a criminal mind to want to be a tyrant. And anybody who says such things as this moron, in their secret heart, wants to BE the absolute tyrant...

A 90-year-old man doesn't have time to be a tyrant. If you take the trouble to read the article, Lovelock isn't advocating the suspension of democracy as a Good Thing(TM), be is making the point that people are too fucking stupid and inert to put aside their petty little squabbles for long enough do anything about bigger issues.

Re:Um..no

[ultranova]

It's naive in the extreme, nevertheless we have a man intelligent enough to earn a PhD, yet dumb enough to think that power won't be abused despite evidence to the contrary in the news each and every day.

Or we have a Slashdot poster dumb enough to not realize that the man with the PhD knows but doesn't care, as long as he gets his wish. Or that the PhD man is trying to set up an extreme position to locate the "reasonable compromise" where he wants.

To what end?

[SoapBox17]

A successful global effort to "put democracy on hold" for any reason would be proof enough to me that this planet is not worth saving.

So it's not going to be a boot...

[John Hasler]

...stepping on a human face forever.

It's going to be a Birkenstock.

Re:Slow news day

[Jeremi]

Why can't "Gaia" fix its own problems itself?

It can -- but Gaia's fix will involve the die-off of most or all of humanity. That will work fine as far as Gaia is concerned, but speaking as part of humanity, I'd like to see if a more human-friendly fix can't be devised instead.

Re:Democracy?

[ignavus]

Abolish elections and select your legislatures by random sampling of the population.

That completely undermines parties as well as saving the huge costs of elections and the corruption of election financing by big corporations.

Re:LOL

[okooolo]

how about reading the article before condemning the guy? ........... "What's the alternative to democracy? There isn't one. But even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while." .............. He simply states that the issue is extremely important and warrants drastic action like in times of war

That is the problem about being ignorant.

[jotaeleemeese]

One begins to say stupid things keeping a straight face.

Democracy is by no means the most popular form of government. Just for starters China is not a democracy, carry on adding countries with no functioning democracies, with autocracies, theocracies and outright dictatorships and you will find out that the truly democratic world shrinks to a few enlightened pockets, and even there its hold is at times dubious.

It can be proven objectively that the standards of living, the ecology, educational achievements, respect for property and human rights, amongst many other desirable outcomes are better served by a democratic system. Democracy is better in any way that matters to individuals, minorities and big populations in general. We had several decades of leftist dictatorships in several countries, pretty much all failed, theocracies? look at Iran or Saudi Arabia, countries no fit for decen civilized living, dictatorships? Yeah, Venezuelans are having a great time.

Honestly, how a properly educated and curious person can claim such idiocy is beyond contemptible.