Drudge linked to this ABCNews article about dire predictions of the future by "top scientists."
You know you are dealing with serious journalism when the article ends with a link to an amateur video contest encouraging readers to submit their depictions of what the world will be like once these predictions become reality in the future.
It's at times like these that we need to stop and ask where our jetpacks are. You know, the ones our grandfathers were promised by the "top scientists" of the past.
And we should ask this question for two reasons:
First, because it suggests that predictions of the future have an uncanny habit of being wrong.
Second, because it reminds us of a time when people looked forward to the future.
The only "science" that news media seems particularly interested in today is the doom and gloom science...the scare propaganda meant to convince us to take action (or, as in the South Park episode that Matt left in the comments below, to convince us to save the planet from Republicans).
According to ABCNews,
In order to avoid this chilling future, we have to first imagine it. In an unprecedented Internet event, ABC is inviting people from around the world to bring the future to life.
I have a better idea. Instead of imagining a "chilling future" (which seems like a really bad choice of words when talking about global warming), we should be imagining a better future. Heck, let's imagine an ideal future where our technology is sustainable, affordable, and provides an even higher quality of life than what we have now.
Let's demand a future that is better than our present...rather than so scaring ourselves with terrifying visions of possible (but not inevitable) devastation that we sell our selves short. Isn't that ultimately what this exercise encourages? Science should be offering us better tomorrows than our todays, not telling us to accept the lesser of two future evils...neither of which is as good as our now.
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