Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

The riots in France seem to have accomplished their purpose. The next time someone tells you, "violence never settles anything" you can respond, "on earth, it settles almost everything that ever gets settled." [Okay, that's an opposition of the saccharine with the cynical.] On December 1st alone (perhaps the peak of the rioting) more than 100 cars were burned in Paris, and the Arc de Triomphe was vandalized. The city's mayor estimated property damages at more than 3 million euros. On December 4, the prime minister said of the carbon taxes that had catalyzed this response,  "no tax deserves to endanger the unity of the nation." The government has backed off the implementation of the new taxes. So that was "settled." So if your interlocutor insists on getting an example, that one is near at hand. As a bit of comic relief in this story, the US psychopath in chief, Donald J. Trump, tweeted that the crowd was chanting "We wan...

I belong to a facebook group on "Climate Change Discussion," and recently another participant, David, in that group offered the following reflection: As powder is heavier than air (aerosol), as demonstrated by the two year temperature reduction after Krakatoa and similar volcanoes erupted, doesn't that mean all geoengineering is pointless (as well as extremely toxic) as the powder can only stay in the air and block the sun out for the same period and then return to the status quo? If so why do Spice and the Gates Foundation spend millions or more researching it when we probably already know not only would it be a very short term effect but probably not enough chemicals in the entire world to carry it out? The kind of geoengineering David has in mind here provided material for a full chapter of McKenzie Funk's book, WINDFALL. Yes, there are ideas in some circles, among people who accept that climate change is both real and troublesome, that the best way to addr...