Love this post, but I’m going to disagree on just one minor point. I tend to believe intelligent, bad people (bandits) are more dangerous than stupid ones. They have more influence. Just an opinion. You have many great quotable lines here. Looking forward to more.
Just to lighten things up a bit, your post reminded me of the following from SNL many moons ago (I was actually young then):
Thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed it. And I don't disagree with your point -- there are a lot of dangerous people out there -- some of them well-meaning too, which makes it hard to navigate some issues.
I'll counter with the supposed quip about Nepoleon's execution of the duke of Enghien, "Worse than a crime, it was a mistake!" And the same could be said of his invasion of Egypt and dismemberment of the Holy Roman Empire that led to the rise of Prussia. :)
Awesome thanks so much. I’m in New Zealand and have been pouring over our energy transition road map. The presentation is pretty impressive and it all looks very scientific but it’s wall to wall absurdity bordering on the ridiculous. How goes 12.5GW of offshore wind to support domestic hydrogen production in a highly disperse country of 5 million sound for example.
It has been bugging me most of this week as I could not understand how seemly intelligent and highly educated people could believe this let alone promote it.
Now I know they are bandits!
Thanks for shedding light on this with a great article! Pleased to hit the subscribe button and look forward to more. Feel free to do the same.
Thanks for subscribing, and I've done the same to your 'Stack. Always interesting to read other's perspectives and experiences globally. It is a bit strange that all of the energy transition solutions look the same. Renewables and hydrogen for everyone, even though there isn't a market for hydrogen (or a settled transportation infrastructure)!
Banditry is everywhere these days. And not the bandits that skew towards intelligence, the bandits that skew towards stupidity. I hope we can escape the doom loop!
I agree with your list of mistakes. One could summarize them all by saying they are not guided by the principle of reducing CO2 emissions at least cost. There are unknowns. How large IS that least cost? How do we get it applied in every decision to emit/not emit CO2? How do we promote R&D to reduce that least cost?
Intelligent bandits will be the death of all of what we hold dear. They're in positions of power because of their lack of conscience, thinking as they do that they know 'what's best for' us, the rabble that bring them their contributions, while the funds they accumulate from their grifting give them the means to avoid the inevitable outcomes of their misguided programs.
Why would anyone in their right mind appoint John Podesta an 'energy czar'? Intelligent bandit? Par excellence!
The trouble with your final point about reducing stupid people and bandits is Law 2. It is inescapable. You may reduce the fraction of bandits, but the fraction of stupid? It’s a constant. I work in local government, it’s the most entertaining way to spend a career.
I know. I am trying to maintain some optimism...but its a tough slog. Hopefully there will remain enough intelligent folks to innovate us out of the stupid/bandit doom loop.
Excellent article that explains a lot. It seems to me that the amount of ‘bandits’ increases with the amount of government largesse available. I remember when Obama took office there was $300 Billion in “green initiatives “ available, but they hadn’t defined what that meant. Stupid people ringing the dinner bell for the bandits to feed.
It seems to me that it would make sense to apply a pejorative descriptor to "stupid" and "bandit" to more align with the context & tone of your article.
How about we use "energy stupid" people and "climate bandit" which assigns the pejorative-ness (?) to the descriptor once the article is read.
I came up with "chemically stupid" people at first but that led to reminiscing about people I went to high school with . . . . . . . . . . totally different context and topic. ;.)
Love this post, but I’m going to disagree on just one minor point. I tend to believe intelligent, bad people (bandits) are more dangerous than stupid ones. They have more influence. Just an opinion. You have many great quotable lines here. Looking forward to more.
Just to lighten things up a bit, your post reminded me of the following from SNL many moons ago (I was actually young then):
https://youtu.be/N-5FwVv5Udo?si=6NijMOgE_ti_V67p
Haha! Great SNL skit. Back when it was funny.
Thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed it. And I don't disagree with your point -- there are a lot of dangerous people out there -- some of them well-meaning too, which makes it hard to navigate some issues.
I'll counter with the supposed quip about Nepoleon's execution of the duke of Enghien, "Worse than a crime, it was a mistake!" And the same could be said of his invasion of Egypt and dismemberment of the Holy Roman Empire that led to the rise of Prussia. :)
Awesome thanks so much. I’m in New Zealand and have been pouring over our energy transition road map. The presentation is pretty impressive and it all looks very scientific but it’s wall to wall absurdity bordering on the ridiculous. How goes 12.5GW of offshore wind to support domestic hydrogen production in a highly disperse country of 5 million sound for example.
It has been bugging me most of this week as I could not understand how seemly intelligent and highly educated people could believe this let alone promote it.
Now I know they are bandits!
Thanks for shedding light on this with a great article! Pleased to hit the subscribe button and look forward to more. Feel free to do the same.
Thanks for subscribing, and I've done the same to your 'Stack. Always interesting to read other's perspectives and experiences globally. It is a bit strange that all of the energy transition solutions look the same. Renewables and hydrogen for everyone, even though there isn't a market for hydrogen (or a settled transportation infrastructure)!
Banditry is everywhere these days. And not the bandits that skew towards intelligence, the bandits that skew towards stupidity. I hope we can escape the doom loop!
I agree with your list of mistakes. One could summarize them all by saying they are not guided by the principle of reducing CO2 emissions at least cost. There are unknowns. How large IS that least cost? How do we get it applied in every decision to emit/not emit CO2? How do we promote R&D to reduce that least cost?
Intelligent bandits will be the death of all of what we hold dear. They're in positions of power because of their lack of conscience, thinking as they do that they know 'what's best for' us, the rabble that bring them their contributions, while the funds they accumulate from their grifting give them the means to avoid the inevitable outcomes of their misguided programs.
Why would anyone in their right mind appoint John Podesta an 'energy czar'? Intelligent bandit? Par excellence!
The trouble with your final point about reducing stupid people and bandits is Law 2. It is inescapable. You may reduce the fraction of bandits, but the fraction of stupid? It’s a constant. I work in local government, it’s the most entertaining way to spend a career.
Thank you for this article.
I know. I am trying to maintain some optimism...but its a tough slog. Hopefully there will remain enough intelligent folks to innovate us out of the stupid/bandit doom loop.
I think the best we can hope for is smart people who are smarter than the dumb are dumber. I think that made sense?
Excellent article that explains a lot. It seems to me that the amount of ‘bandits’ increases with the amount of government largesse available. I remember when Obama took office there was $300 Billion in “green initiatives “ available, but they hadn’t defined what that meant. Stupid people ringing the dinner bell for the bandits to feed.
It seems to me that it would make sense to apply a pejorative descriptor to "stupid" and "bandit" to more align with the context & tone of your article.
How about we use "energy stupid" people and "climate bandit" which assigns the pejorative-ness (?) to the descriptor once the article is read.
I came up with "chemically stupid" people at first but that led to reminiscing about people I went to high school with . . . . . . . . . . totally different context and topic. ;.)