The Idiots Are Yelling About Weather Machines Again
Climate, healthcare, and ancient philosophy.
Hello there, let’s talk about idiots for a few minutes.
They’re yelling about weather machines again.
This weekend, another historic flood ruined another holiday. Instead of watching fireworks, dozens of Texas kids drowned. Driven by torrential rains, the Guadalupe River rose to record highs “in a matter of minutes” in the middle of the night, 26 feet in less than one hour. Flash flood warnings hit at 1 am. Nobody had a chance to prepare. Touring the death and destruction, a Texas lawmaker regrets his decision to vote against a plan that would’ve improved the state’s disaster response. If you wanted a textbook example of social murder, the kind of murder that results from policies that subject citizens to grave dangers, there you go.
Despite their shortcomings, ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle understood something that escapes most of humanity today:
There’s no such thing as compassion.
Self-interest doesn’t exist.
For the philosophers, these ideas d…