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you should separate the so-called scientists paid by the states from the free science. the decisive factor for our climate is solar activity and not the CO2 emitted by humans. But this is a deep debate
Private enterprise is notoriously poor at funding pure science where many of the significant discoveries are made which then deliver economic advantages. Yes many state funded scientists might be constrained in their work by political considerations but I find it difficult to believe they have as a whole deceived with the overwhelming evidence that human caused climate change- primarily from burning fossil fuels is now causing considerable increase in the global temperature. Unprecedented rising sea temperatures have now been recorded and unprecedented warming is now occurring. Solar activity has always varied in intensity but the scale of warming now is not attributed to solar variations by any of the mainstream science I have seen. Yes it is a hugely complex debate with questions such as should nuclear be used more to replace fossil fuels an example where political views are highly influential. Peter Thiel has argued that the decision was made to curtail increased nuclear power utilisation when India were assisted to build nuclear power plants by the US but then quickly went on the build nuclear weapons from those reactors. It was realised it is almost impossible to enable nuclear power without the consequence of nuclear weapons going to that nation as well. Humans have surely demonstrated too many times our potential for brutality and warring to ignore such dangers. One thing is sure IMO - human caused climate change is real and is a huge potential threat to us all- we need to at least take a cautious approach if the planet is to avoid getting fried. This should ideally be an issue where we can unite out of common interest, not another point of division...but fossil fuel lobbyists have serially sought to sow doubt, obfuscation and confusion despite the known science and that dangerous, deliberate and disingenuous misinformation needs to be firmly rejected.
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47 sats \ 20 replies \ @jgbtc 9 Sep
It will be interesting to see how much is spent on public science once we're on a bitcoin standard. The current funding is entirely dependent on the money printer running at full speed, so without that will people be willing to shell out their hard earned sats for it?
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The Bitcoin Standard is not inconsistent with the idea of state funded investment. El Salvador demonstrates this if you really need an example. Any understanding of science and economy shows state funding of pure science has driven major advances in the productive economy and private enterprise does not often fund pure science so an educated and informed public would generally support taxation to fund science. The Bitcoin Standard does not have to result in an end to taxation and collective economic progress... Climate change is a crisis which demonstrates very clearly the need for people to be capable of action beyond the crude imperatives of free markets. Climate change demands agreement and consensus to act in the common interest and that's is perhaps why it is denied by more extremist libertarians.
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78 sats \ 8 replies \ @jgbtc 10 Sep
Do you think taxation is enough, or will the money printer also be needed to solve such a big and important problem? The US spent $1.7T more than it collected in taxes in 2023. That's a pretty big difference. How's that going to work when they can't print money anymore? It will be difficult to pay for green new deals and whatnot.
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They will need the money printer to pay evrn the interests on their debt
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Agree fiat money hegemony has corrupted the US politics, economy and society. USA consumes far more than it produces except that it can and does print the global reserve currency. Quite likely that the rest of the world soon stop accepting that as sustainable in fact its already happening- Russia and Iran are already trading denominated in Chinese Yuan. A declining US/West and a rising China is a largely separate issue to climate change although the mandate for a Chinese empire could well be gained by China representing a political system that is more capable of responding logically to the threat of climate change than the corporate patronised fake democracy and crony capitalism of the West. China with its politburo composed of 80% engineers has already has built the manufacturing and technology base required to radically increase energy efficiency and productivity.
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21 sats \ 5 replies \ @jgbtc 10 Sep
Are those engineers responsible for all of China's ghost cities? https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-story-behind-the-many-ghost-towns-of-abandoned-mansions-across-china. Imagine all the carbon emissions from building unused skyscrapers and demolishing them. Is that the energy efficiency you're referring to?
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Real estate development has been a major driver and regional governments have been responsible for this not the central government. The central government and engineers who populate it have however used some rather creative management in terms of limiting the damage- https://fortune.com/2024/02/08/evergrande-liquidation-99-percent-haircut-hedge-funds/ It is greedy western hedge funds that are being hung out to dry.
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So the centrally planned economy wasn't centrally planned enough? It really fascinates me that you like bitcoin, or at least seem to. How can you possibly reconcile bitcoin with your collectivist leanings? Wealth held by individuals in a sovereign way will be difficult for governments to confiscate for "The Greater Good" of solving climate change or whatever the next crises is. Does that concern you?
Climate change is a crisis which demonstrates very clearly the need for people to be capable of action beyond the crude imperatives of free markets. Climate change demands agreement and consensus to act in the common interest and that's is perhaps why it is denied by more extremist libertarians.
Spot on.
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Have you seen the price tag for solving climate change? $5.5T per year, and we can safely assume that's a low ball estimate considering who's making it. I'm curious how you think that gets paid for on a Bitcoin Standard. That's a lot of money to collect if there's no money printer.
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Have you seen the price tag for NOT solving climate change?
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Yes, yes I'm sure it's a lot. So how do we pay to solve climate change on a bitcoin standard? Keeping in mind the US already spends $1.7T more than it collects in taxes plus we need another $5.5T per year (globally) according to the UN. So where's all that money going to come from without the money printer? I'm making the assumption we all want a bitcoin standard here, am I wrong?
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So you accept human caused climate change is real threat to humanity?