Pessimism

I was reading Marty Nemko's post where he uses a bunch of probabilities of things related to global warming and then multiplies to probabilities together to create a joint probability that action on global warming would be helpful. This joint probability turns out to be 0.2. I share Marty Nemko's skepticism of central planning,though I'd extend this to private bureaucracies as well as public ones, I think that global warming is a reality and that people who deny this are either practicing bad science or denial based on ideology or religion. The problem is that central planning may the only recourse we have against global warming and as Nemko would say it often works badly. This is sad because I think that burning much fossil fuel, acidifying the oceans, and raising the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere may be the most powerful legacy this generation leaves behind and we have only defective weapons to fight against it.

Interpretation of Animal Man

DC has revamped its lineup again, there by alienating a lot of fans. One title, however has garnered solid praise, Animal Man. In this book it has become apparent that Buddy Baker's daughter, Maxine, has become the focus of a mystical struggle involving three forces, the Red, the Green, and the Rot. The Rot is represented by the Hunters Three, grotesque undead monsters who were once human but now look like piles of entrails and suffer from cannibalistic hungers. They want to possess Maxine, turning her into a being like themselves but with greater power. What fascinates me is the correspondence between the Red, the Green, and the Rot and real ecological force. The Red, animal life, eats the Green, and various parasites eat both. Certainly, when both plants and animals die, their bodies must Rot so that the organic compounds they contain can be recycled into other life forms. While Rot is disgusting, it can only be seen as evil when it gets out of place and causes disease in living things. If this metaphor is truly being pursued in the comic book, readers will eventually see that while it must fought to keep it in it's proper place, the Rot is not intrinsically evil.