6 comments so far...

• Alistair Said on September 1st, 2008 at 13:25:
  

  to stick with the analogy, yes, he’ll live, with a painful gunshot wound.

  so we screw up the planet, we’ll still survive it just won’t be as pleasant.

• stu Said on September 1st, 2008 at 16:10:
  

  I’m not sure I understand the point… and I’m not sure the analogy is sound - with ’saving the planet’ being analogue and ‘death of man’ being rather digital.

  Change the analogy to “10 people each get to kick him as hard as they can in the goolies”, and then have 9 of them refuse. Our chap, while being in excruciating pain, will probably not have passed out at the end of it and _may_ be able to father offspring in the future.

• arselyturdbreath Said on September 2nd, 2008 at 13:22:
  

  I’m not sure I understand what you are getting at but I think I’d make the point that the trigger-happy man in the firing squad is actually turning the gun on the rest of his squad. The man shot survives with some outer damage and recovers in a few million years…with the firing squad long gone :)

• sweavo Said on September 2nd, 2008 at 13:48:
  

  Well, the man dies. The point I started driving at is that abstenance is not the same as prevention. If we cut our oil usage, it just means someone else prospers and the oil gets used.

  It’s a voicing of my despair at how, if you scratch more than a little at almost any “green” initiative, it turns out to be at best woefully inadequate.

  If an action penalises the individual but benefits all, then the winner is the one who is cynical and, e.g. drives in the bus lane.

  The point is that a sort of n-player version of the Prisoner’s Dilemma is all around us — in global warming, in peak oil, in food prices, in Health & Safety legislation, and in the credit crunch.

  Unless you trust ALL the other players, the lesson of the Prisoner’s Dilemma is “Stick it to them before they stick it to you”.

  Which is depressing.

• stu Said on September 3rd, 2008 at 08:53:
  

  “Stick it to them before they stick it to you”

  Is that not the core of Darwinism? The Victorians were most upset with him because they all thought nature was put there for their entertainment, and it turned out to be a harsh dog-eat-dog place.

  Sounds like you may be suffering similar?

  I do believe, though, that “sticking it to them” can come in many creative forms and needn’t necessarily involve one being a complete bastard.

  And I also do believe that each person doing their bit _can_ help, if even in a small way. The important bit is that if you choose to go green, don’t get too upset at others who don’t. But “being the change you want to see” is, I reckon, a moderately good tenet.

• ianb1469 Said on September 6th, 2008 at 17:53:
  

  I do sypathise with you.

  I suggest “demonstrate by example” is the way to do what is right and to influence. And if someone else benefits by your actions, then that is good for them. Why are you competing with the guy in the bus-lane?

  Someone famous once said to turn the other cheek if you are hit. There’s a lot in that.