13 Worst Predictions Made on Earth Day, 1970...Or, Mainstream Science doesn't make for a very good authority to cite, does it?
In the interests of squashing the constant references to what "Mainstream Science" thinks, I am posting this article before part two of the Faith/Science essays.
Thomas Alva Edison was a brilliant inventor. One of his inventions was the DC current electric network. In the late 19th Century his DC powered light bulbs were changing the world. His current could be metered, it could use battery storage to be able to handle load shifts and it was provided by General Electric and had been invented by the "Wizard of Menlo Park." Everyone thought that DC power would spread throughout the world and a new day of electricity-powered lighting and machines seemed to be at hand. But Westinghouse and the AC power plants and the inherent advantages of AC power caused Edison's DC power generation to be bypassed and AC power became the standard. While AC power was more dangerous, it was far more efficient and required far fewer generating plants to provide power to a large area.
Quadrophonic Taped Music, both 8-track and reel-to-reel, was another big 60's-70's idea that audiophiles invested in heavily. Quadrophonic sound was the goal for the audiophile, while a means of playing albums in vehicles made 8-track players in automobiles popular briefly. Anybody remember Quadrophenia by The Who? But the more compact, reliable and cheaper cassette tape was able to retain reasonable sound quality longer, less likely to break and far less cumbersome. Meanwhile, almost NOBODY was putting their music out in reel-to-reel form. Digital music was the next big thing and tape was just a placeholder, the bridge between vinyl and digital.
Coca-Cola thought that the New Coke was going to be a big hit. But long-time Coke drinkers disagreed. The company put the old formula back into production 77 days after announcing the big switch.
Ford thought the Edsel would help them surpass General Motors in sales. The Segway was supposed to become a dominant means of transportation in cities. Windows ME. Heck, Windows VISTA!
Smart people and large organizations can be terribly wrong. When a Darwinist argues that "Mainstream science" supports evolution, I think to myself, "So what?" The popular opinion of scientists and philosophers and academics can be completely and ridiculously wrong. For instance, recently so many scientists warned the world that Global Warming was going to ruin the planet and flood coastal cities that the public began to believe it. Al Gore made a film built on lies and bad assumptions. The Green Nuts joined hands with some big money guys who could see making an absolute killing on carbon offsets. They were willing to lie and fake information in their haste to get everyone on board the warming train. Fortunately some good reporting and a few diligent scientists helped cause the world to pay attention to all the evidence and we found out that the world was not going to be endangered by man-made global warming...unless someone found a way to make a billion Al Gores and have them all speak at once. That much hot air might kill us all!
There is a tremendous amount of evidence for BUT when we discuss evolution or global warming.
Look back at 1970 and see what the Mainstream scientists, academics and philosophers warned us about back then...
Quadrophonic Taped Music, both 8-track and reel-to-reel, was another big 60's-70's idea that audiophiles invested in heavily. Quadrophonic sound was the goal for the audiophile, while a means of playing albums in vehicles made 8-track players in automobiles popular briefly. Anybody remember Quadrophenia by The Who? But the more compact, reliable and cheaper cassette tape was able to retain reasonable sound quality longer, less likely to break and far less cumbersome. Meanwhile, almost NOBODY was putting their music out in reel-to-reel form. Digital music was the next big thing and tape was just a placeholder, the bridge between vinyl and digital.
Coca-Cola thought that the New Coke was going to be a big hit. But long-time Coke drinkers disagreed. The company put the old formula back into production 77 days after announcing the big switch.
Ford thought the Edsel would help them surpass General Motors in sales. The Segway was supposed to become a dominant means of transportation in cities. Windows ME. Heck, Windows VISTA!
Smart people and large organizations can be terribly wrong. When a Darwinist argues that "Mainstream science" supports evolution, I think to myself, "So what?" The popular opinion of scientists and philosophers and academics can be completely and ridiculously wrong. For instance, recently so many scientists warned the world that Global Warming was going to ruin the planet and flood coastal cities that the public began to believe it. Al Gore made a film built on lies and bad assumptions. The Green Nuts joined hands with some big money guys who could see making an absolute killing on carbon offsets. They were willing to lie and fake information in their haste to get everyone on board the warming train. Fortunately some good reporting and a few diligent scientists helped cause the world to pay attention to all the evidence and we found out that the world was not going to be endangered by man-made global warming...unless someone found a way to make a billion Al Gores and have them all speak at once. That much hot air might kill us all!
There is a tremendous amount of evidence for BUT when we discuss evolution or global warming.
Look back at 1970 and see what the Mainstream scientists, academics and philosophers warned us about back then...
13 Worst Predictions Made on Earth Day, 1970
The 1970s were a lousy decade. Embarrassing movies, dreadful music and downright terrifying clothes reflected the national mood following an unpopular war, endless political scandals and a faltering economy.
Popular culture was consumed with decline, especially Hollywood. The Omega Man, Soylent Green, Damnation Alley and countless other dystopian films showed a planet wrecked by war, pollution and neglect. In large part, the entertainment industry was reflecting the culture at large.
In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated — okay, “celebrated” doesn’t capture the funereal tone of the event. The events (organized in part by then hippie and now convicted murderer Ira Einhorn) predicted death, destruction and disease unless we did exactly as progressives commanded.
Behold the coming apocalypse as predicted on and around Earth Day, 1970:
Popular culture was consumed with decline, especially Hollywood. The Omega Man, Soylent Green, Damnation Alley and countless other dystopian films showed a planet wrecked by war, pollution and neglect. In large part, the entertainment industry was reflecting the culture at large.
In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated — okay, “celebrated” doesn’t capture the funereal tone of the event. The events (organized in part by then hippie and now convicted murderer Ira Einhorn) predicted death, destruction and disease unless we did exactly as progressives commanded.
Behold the coming apocalypse as predicted on and around Earth Day, 1970:
- "Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." — Harvard biologist George Wald
- "We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation." — Washington University biologist Barry Commoner
- "Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction." — New York Times editorial
- "Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years." — Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich
- "Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born… [By 1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s." — Paul Ehrlich
- "It is already too late to avoid mass starvation," — Denis Hayes, Chief organizer for Earth Day
- "Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions…. By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine." — North Texas State University professor Peter Gunter
- "In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution… by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half." — Life magazine
- "At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it's only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable." — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
- "Air pollution...is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone." — Paul Ehrlich
- "By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate… that there won't be any more crude oil. You'll drive up to the pump and say, ‘Fill 'er up, buddy,' and he'll say, ‘I am very sorry, there isn't any.'" — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
- "[One] theory assumes that the earth's cloud cover will continue to thicken as more dust, fumes, and water vapor are belched into the atmosphere by industrial smokestacks and jet planes. Screened from the sun's heat, the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born." — Newsweek magazine
- "The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age." — Kenneth Watt
Quotes from "Earth Day, Then and Now," by Ronald Bailey, Reason.com. May 1, 2000.
Yes, in the 70's Mainstream Science warned us of a New Ice Age
One could make the argument that the Liberal Darwinist/Green crowd is anti-science? Or is it really just a matter of their FAITH? I promise part two of the science/faith discussion is coming this week, either Thursday or Friday...
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The Darwinist/Liberal/Green Nuts have been a bane of humanity, particularly for the Third World. The banning of DDT led to millions of Africans being bitten and dying from malaria. Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring, was a literate lie that Green Nuts used to bad DDT. Birds were NOT in danger from DDT. But the Green Nuts managed to kill off a LOT of Africans! If that was the plan, well, they succeeded. Abortion on demand is still working to kill off an inordinate amount of brown and black babies. Francis Galton would be so proud!
The attempt to keep modern technology from Third World natives has tended to keep them locked in poverty. There is no particular reason most people in Central Africa should use primitive tools and farming methods and be denied modern electric power, is there? Take away the Islamic and Socialist dictatorships and the meddling of the United Nations and Africa could be a continent of great success. There is a fantastic amount of valuable raw materials in Africa. Freedom and capitalism would free the majority from poverty and ignorance.
Here is a great quote from the article referenced below:
"Environmental economist Bjørn Lomborg detailed the overwhelmingly positive impact of electricity on the world’s most vulnerable:
Electricity has given humanity huge benefits. Almost 3 billion people still burn dung, twigs, and other traditional fuels indoors to cook and keep warm, generating noxious fumes that kill an estimated 2 million people each year, mostly women and children. Likewise, just 100 years ago, the average American family spent six hours each week during cold months shoveling six tons of coal into the furnace (not to mention cleaning the coal dust from carpets, furniture, curtains, and bedclothes). In the developed world today, electric stoves and heaters have banished indoor air pollution.
Similarly, electricity has allowed us to mechanize much of our world, ending most backbreaking work. The washing machine liberated women from spending endless hours carrying water and beating clothing on scrub boards. The refrigerator made it possible for almost everyone to eat more fruits and vegetables, and to stop eating rotten food, which is the main reason why the most prevalent cancer for men in the United States in 1930, stomach cancer, is the least prevalent now.
The counterproductive stunt of Earth Hour might make the anti-science Left feel better about themselves, but it only harms the planet and humanity at large. If activists want to improve the lives of the downtrodden, perhaps they can support the fracking boom that delivers clean, inexpensive natural gas to an energy-starved world.
Earth needs more light and progress, not more darkness and hypocrisy."
Electricity has given humanity huge benefits. Almost 3 billion people still burn dung, twigs, and other traditional fuels indoors to cook and keep warm, generating noxious fumes that kill an estimated 2 million people each year, mostly women and children. Likewise, just 100 years ago, the average American family spent six hours each week during cold months shoveling six tons of coal into the furnace (not to mention cleaning the coal dust from carpets, furniture, curtains, and bedclothes). In the developed world today, electric stoves and heaters have banished indoor air pollution.
Similarly, electricity has allowed us to mechanize much of our world, ending most backbreaking work. The washing machine liberated women from spending endless hours carrying water and beating clothing on scrub boards. The refrigerator made it possible for almost everyone to eat more fruits and vegetables, and to stop eating rotten food, which is the main reason why the most prevalent cancer for men in the United States in 1930, stomach cancer, is the least prevalent now.
