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GRIM_AMUSEMENT

                                                     May-July 2020

I find that "The Planet of the            HUMAN_PLANET
Humans" movie movie is a grimly
amusing phenomena: it's by a                                 https://planetofthehumans.com/
classic anti-technology
environmentalist who's shocked
to discovery that "renewables"         (Their name for the devil is not
are not magicial, but are              "technology" though, but rather
actually just more examples of         "industrial civilization".  I've run
industrial technology.                 into this in another place recently
                                       as well: maybe "industrial" is the
   I sometimes make a case *like*      new sneer word in some circles.)
   this myself, though *much* less
   strongly: I do suspect the
   claims made for solar and wind
   technology have been
   exaggerated-- and still *are*
   being exaggerated, even today
   when these technologies are          But myself, when I point
   doing better than I would've         out solar and wind have
   expected.  And nuclear power         flaws, I don't take that
   remains an excellent candidate       as a reason to abandon
   to generate large quantities of      them-- I just want people
   clean power.                         to think more about how
                                        we evaluate technologies.



                                             
So what's funny about Jeff Gibbs' "Planet of      
the Humans" is that I'm used to having to         
argue *against* people like this-- The "oh my     
god not perfect!" line is trotted out against     
nuclear power all the time, and patiently         
crunching through the reasons the issues are      
manageable is never going to convince someone     
who is deeply, emotionally committed to the       
idea that it's just got to be perfect.            
                                                  
                                                       Jeff Gibbs complains
Here, Jeff Gibbs is going after the "renewables        the greens are
gang", but doing it in such a way that it provokes     sucking up to big
me to step up and help defend them.                    donations and
                                                       investors in "green
But then the renewables gang was so outraged at        technology".
some high profile lefties daring to attack their       Corrupted by money!
true faith that they've responded in a remarkably
nasty fashion, cranking out hit pieces rapid-fire...   The left responds
and demanding that the offending documentary be        that Jeff Gibbs
banned and removed from youtube.                       sounds just like
                                                       a shill for the oil
Then there's the various other factions stepping       industry!  And all
up to defend "Planet of the Humans"-- it's             of those activists
very popular with some conservatives who are           he interviewed are...
over-joyed to watch different "environmentalist"       *white*!
factions sparring with each other.
                                                       The right is overjoyed
  I turned up some commentary by a young               to see a lefty calling
  pro-technology guy (Alex Epstein) who                out the "renewable
  objects to the film's underlying                     energy scam"-- but is
  anti-industrial technology premise--                 dismissive of the 
  and *he* leaves me wanting to make the               main thrust of Jeff
  point modern industrial civilization                 Gibbs' argument.
  *does* have some problems, and doesn't    
  deserve uncritical worship...             
                                            
    All of this leaves me muttering under  
    my breath "is everyone's brains broken?".


    Pretty often these days, I'm struck by
    how the world is engaging in
    ridiculously extreme parodies of itself:
    "You couldn't put this is an satirical      MILK_FLOAT
    novel, it would seem too heavy-handed."


          Bonfire of the Inanities





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