Check out this interesting and informative article on Stewart Brand, the environmentalist icon behind the “Whole Earth Catalog” who now is promoting “heresies” that are based on science, not romantics. Among these heresies: nuclear power is good; megacities are good; genetic engineering is good.
I hope he’s correct in his optimistic prediction that science-based ideas will become the accepted mainstream of environmentalism within the next 10 years, but in my experience, it’s hard for a person with a life-defining religious conviction to make that kind of reversal. He’s also clearly an innovator who seeks out change and not a conservative, the way most people regardless of their political affiliation (including most environmentalists) ultimately are. But maybe a focus on the empirical realities of the situation will become common enough among those with the drive and wherewithal to make a difference that they will carry everyone else along – forward, not back to some mythical past.
I wasn’t aware that Brand was also an early cyberculture guru who organized the first Hackers Conference and uttered the famous words: “Information wants to be free.”
My favorite Brand quote from the article: “The times I’ve been wrong is when I assume there’s a brittleness in a complex system that turns out to be way more resilient than I thought.”
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Mr. Brand has also been kind enough to endorse my thriller novel of nuclear power, which is based on my twenty years in the US nuclear industry and is designed to provide a good overview of the topic for a lay person. I cover the good and the bad. It is available free online at RadDecision.blogspot.com and also in paperback via online retailers.
"I'd like to see Rad Decision widely read." - Stewart Brand
I think he's right about the resiliency of complex systems. We forget that people can adapt and will adapt when necessary.
When I first read this, I thought Brand was promoting the idea that nuclear power is good, etc., were heresies - in other words, things that one ought not to believe in the face of science. It confused me a lot since I know your perspectives on things a bit. Heh.
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