People unwilling to act on the climate-crisis narrative should be assisted with drugs that improve and promote conformity, according to eminent bioethicist Professor Matthew Liao, of New York University, who also wants to see parents dosing their children with hormones and diets to keep them shorter and less of a burden on the planet. Once sufficiently drugged, parents would be less likely to reject notions of “human engineering” techniques that will be needed to create Humans 2.0. These amended species will be 15cm shorter than now, hence more energy efficient and less resource-demanding. —Tony Thomas, Quadrant, 28 July 2017
I am not arguing that global warming is the same as eugenics. But the similarities are not superficial. Those who opposed the theory were shouted down and called reactionary, blind to reality, or just plain ignorant. But in hindsight, what is surprising is that so few people objected. The past history of human belief is a cautionary tale. As Alston Chase put it, “when the search for truth is confused with political advocacy, the pursuit of knowledge is reduced to the quest for power.” That is the danger we now face. And this is why the intermixing of science and politics is a bad combination, with a bad history. We must remember the history, and be certain that what we present to the world as knowledge is disinterested and honest. —Michael Crichton, State of Fear
The first commercial fracking well in the UK is set to be drilled within weeks in spite of strong opposition from protesters at the site near Blackpool. Lorries brought a drilling rig to the Lancashire site of shale gas explorer Cuadrilla during the early hours of Thursday under police escort, before anti-fracking activists could block the company’s main gate. After securing planning permission from the government last year to frack at a different site in Lancashire, Cuadrilla now hopes to start a long-awaited shale gas revolution in the UK similar to that witnessed in the US. —Financial Times, 27 July 2017
South Africa will harvest 15,969 million tonnes of maize this season, the biggest crop on record after improved weather conditions across the maize belt boosted yields, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said on Wednesday. The 2017 harvest will also be more than double the previous season, which was only 7.78 million tonnes following an El Nino-triggered drought that impacted yields, pushed up food prices and fuelled inflation. —CNBC Africa, 27 July 2017
Several intervals of significant rapid climate change were detected during the Holocene at 10.3, 9.3-9.5, around 8.2, 6.4-6.2, 4.7-4.5, and around 2.7 ka BP. Those intervals are similar to the cold events evidenced in different natural paleoclimate archivers, suggesting common climate forcing mechanisms related to changes in solar irradiance. —Mohammed Allan et al., Climate of the Past, 11 July 2017
U.S. coal exports have jumped more than 60 percent this year due to soaring demand from Europe and Asia, according to a Reuters review of government data, allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to claim that efforts to revive the battered industry are working. The [boom] included a surge to several European countries during the 2017 period, including a 175 percent increase in shipments to the United Kingdom, and a doubling to France – which had suffered a series of nuclear power plant outages that required it and regional neighbors to rely more heavily on coal. —Reuters, 28 July 2017
After three in the fast lane China’s electric car market has hit a speed bump this year as reduced government subsidies dent drivers’ buying interest. According to UBS, sales growth of new-energy vehicles including pure electric cars and plug-in hybrid automobiles, are expected to slow to 20 per cent for the whole year in 2017. “In China, policies always have a huge impact on the auto market,” said UBS analyst Hou Yankun. “As government subsidies drop, the market is losing a major driving force to spur the growth [of the electric-car segment].” —Daniel Ren, South China Morning Post, 27 July 2017
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday blasted Elon Musk-style warnings against artificial intelligence (AI) as “pretty irresponsible.” “I have pretty strong opinions on AI. I am optimistic,” Zuckerberg said. “And I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios — I just, I don’t understand it. It’s really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible.” Zuckerberg’s response comes shortly after Musk returned to his anti-artificial intelligence crusade earlier this month, telling the nation’s governors that AI needs to be regulated because it poses a “fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.” —BizJournal, 24 July 2017
Hmmmm… I wonder if the “eminent bio-ethicist”, Professor Matthew Liao would first consider trying his experiments upon himself. If he’s really dedicated to the notion there is a piece of anatomy he likely certainly handles daily that he could shrink without too much difficulty…
Report back later Matthew.
I don’t know where Kurt Vonegut got the idea, but genetically engineered runts were mentioned in his book “Slapstick”
So dose this intellecual moron think that all global warming/climate change skeptics should be sent to a concentration camp or gulag like the nazis and communists did? This person is even more wacko then Gore and DiCaprio and more nutty then a 100 acres of walnut trees