Pascal’s Wager and the Collective Good

(Two examples of modern Republicans inability to understand logic)

I have friends who have evolving opinions on climate change. Long ago, their opinion was “It’s a hoax”, because a political pundit they liked told them so. I think that because they didn’t seem to have any convincing evidence for their opinion. I should mention that these friends aren’t of limited intelligence. These are intelligent, educated men. Their opinion then evolved to, “Maybe it’s real, but it’s stopping an ice age, and that would be worse.” Then, “Just because it’s getting warmer, doesn’t mean it’s because of carbon emissions.” And finally, “Okay maybe, but China and India aren’t doing anything so why should we?” That year China became the world leader in Solar cells and it had already been leading in batteries. All their arguments were designed to allow them to vote for the party they wanted without feeling that maybe they were making a mistake.

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Education in America

So recently I saw a new Thomas Sowell video cropped up on Youtube entitled: “Sowell EXPOSES Why American Education Is a Global MOCKERY”. Sowell is an interesting guy. Sometimes when I watch a video of his I think yeah, right problem, weird conclusion. It’s like you took your car to a mechanic and he said, “Spark plugs are bad so we should drop your gas tank.” You’d think “What?” I won’t link to the video, as America’s most prominent African-American conservative intellectual does not need my help in publicizing his views. Continue reading