30/10/2006 1:40:18 pm
Global Doomsday Hysteria. The international debate is filled with different predictions about disasters that might take place as a consequence of climate change. Today, some British report warns for a global economic collapse equivalent of a world war. See here. And politicians from left to right seem to agree that the disaster is coming and all is a matter of trying to avoid misery.

A few decades ago, everyone was terrified about global cooling and a coming ice-age, now it is global warming. I don′t mention this to ridicule the matter, but to say that predictions differ and that it seems that in any case, change scares people. I think there are several signs that the climate is changing, but it is less certain if humans have affected it. In any case, one has to see reality as it is.

There is a common tendency to regard big changes as threats. One reason for that is the fact that we don′t have all the answers beforehand, another is a general fear of change. And a great doomsday scenario is painted. Usually, this creates large, centrally planned, government solutions that do more bad than good. That is what centrally planned solutions do.

Doomsday scenarios usually prove totally false. When we look back at fears of trains, sea voyages, VHS, dying seals or indeed many previous environmental alarms, it is easy to laugh. But the lesson is that people have been extremely adaptable throughout history and coped with great changes. A change is not a threat, is is just a change.

In a free society, researchers, innovators and companies will find ways to change society with new conditions. And normally, the new situation is even better than the previous. If we remember this, we don′t have to see the future as a threat, just as long as we have a free society for new ideas and don′t have the state trying to plan everything in advance.