"The answer to climate change," he says solemnly, "is the development of science and technology. Yes, we will get changes in the way we consume but we will be consuming differently, not necessarily less. People are not going to return to the 19th century. The critical thing is to use the technologies we have and to incentivise the development of new ones. That is the only practical way we will make this thing work."
Well, he's partly right. The market will do the "incentivisation". Government subsidies for wind farms and other eco-wibble are not needed, thanks very much.
6 comments:
"The market will do the incentivisation", er, I don't think so. Markets are there to earn money (put at it's most basic) not to solve societies problems (if you believe they exist). The market could be encouraged to help by, for instance, outlawing patents unused except to prevent competition but as many current politicians view their time in government as CV entries for business I don't think this will happen any time soon.
Steve
Oh right, which is exactly why we all still use whale blubber to keep our lambs going at night. Changing that was all down to government intervention.
My little lamb eats daisies. I keep my whale blubber for the bedroom.
Markets certainly have their place, and as someone who can remember the early seventies I appreciate what they've done but at the risk of stirring you up this evening - markets did not stop us burning coal in our fireplaces, markets did not provide sewers and markets do not provide demand for items at the heavier end of the military bazaar. I'm sure you can think of many more examples...
Kind regards Steve
Markets provided electricity, which gave us an alternative to coal.
It's true that markets did not provide us with sewers, but that's not the issue under discussion.
"not the issue under discussion" you are right of course and I agree with Blairs view even to the extent that though I couldn't give a toss about climate change I view it a much better driver for technical & scientific change than war. What I was getting at (rather badly) was that the market in science & technology is is based on regulation enshrined in patent law, and this is, some believe, in a state of some disrepair possibly preventing markets working as we would all prefer.
On a picky note, electricity replaced very little coal, it was mainly gas & oil...
Kind regards, Steve
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