honey, I boiled the kids

There are two new scientific studies out showing that we need to wean ourselves from carbon emissions by mid-century if we want to avoid future disaster. The studies show that not only will be temperature increases be higher than predicted, the effects will also last much longer. Even if we stopped now, the effects of our oil addiction will be here for centuries to come. Talk about a hangover. There truly is no drug like oil.

Think about that when you drive to your job where you try to make as much money as you can so junior has a future. All the money you need to put him or her in private school. All the after school activities you have to support. All the driving and flying you will need to teach junior about the world. Maybe it would be better if you stopped working altogether. That way, and if you could convince all others to follow you, junior may actually have a future.

The Washington Post interviewed a philosophy professor, Steve Gardiner to shed some light on this dilemma. He put it succinctly as follows: The argument over global warming "is a classic inter-generational debate, where the short-term benefits of emitting carbon accrue mainly to us and where the dangers of them are largely put off until future generations."

And therein lies the key. Nobody wants to miss out on these short term benefits. Even if that means they will boil their kids or grandkids.

The whole argument against global warming or resource depletion is simple. It is us versus them. We do not want to deny ourselves the luxuries that we feel we are entitled to. We do not want to cut back voluntarily. We can see that anybody who cuts back voluntarily is leaving short term benefits on the table for others to grab. Can't have that !

And ultimately this simple truth may be the solution to the famous Fermi dilemma of why there is no sign of intelligent life in the galaxy. These "intelligent" life-forms are too smart for their own good. They are too clever finding new ways of living it up. And in doing so they don't last nearly as long as other species do.