Well, I am going to wing it today, trusting the measured Russ Roberts to do the heavy lifting, as I am determined to get to the hospital lickety-split this morning. Yesterday proved the perfect storm of missing all key events at the hospital: social workers [it isn’t what it sounds, they didn’t find the still or the mangle we were making her turn], physiotherapists, doctors’ rounds, and lunch. How they managed to squeeze all this in between 10:30 and noon is beyond me. People ask me for directions downstairs I have been there for so long, but I had to leave to experience the ongoing miracle of the laying on of hands on my hip. I have thus been playing broken telephone, and the person whispering in my ear is an octogenarian, who while challenged at the best of times, is not experiencing those best of times, and one whom could really use a plucking, a sad reminder of my hirsute future [future, ed.?], so I am going to spare you my lucid prose as I dash, tweezers in hand, to the hospital, to find they fit all that stuff in today before dawn.
I have often touted Professor Roberts’ informative interviews and this one follows along with a sub-theme that is ever present and ignored at one’s peril: why do intelligent people disagree. It also manages to discuss thorny topics calmly, something I much appreciate, and which is only possible when one accepts that one oneself must also be biased and a product of one’s context.
So don’t boil over, or give me the cold shoulder, if you disagree with one or the other of the subjects of the book. We don’t know how things are going to play out and it is beyond interesting to recognize doomsday scenarios as being best sellers, decade after decade.
Paul Sabin of Yale University and author of The Bet talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his book. Sabin uses the bet between Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon–a bet over whether natural resources are getting scarcer as population grows–as a lens for examining the evolution of the environmental movement and its status today. Sabin considers the successes and failures of the movement and the challenges of having nuanced public policy discussions on issues where both sides have passionate opinions.
I think the future is going to be like the past, except different. Followed by a period of change. Sort of like the weather.
So make the most of it, find some now in your today, and be kind to the people you encounter. And drink fluids, plenty of fluids, until they tell you not to.
so at long last, we meet…
yep. i think i’ve seen your face before my friend.