Andy's Blog
It's A Small World is by far the worst amusement ride in the history of all amusement rides. And I am pretty sure Al Gore designed it...On May 24, 1956, Al Gore was 8 years old. He decided to take a break from inventing the internet and called up his good buddy Walt Disney. Walt Disney took a break from hating the Jews and decided to listen to Al Gore's idea.
Al's vision: design a ride to convince the world that it is smaller than it really is. Why? Because 50 years to the day - May 24, 2006 - Al Gore knew he would release the greatest powerpoint presentation ever called The Inconvenient Truth, and in order for the premise of the "movie" to be true, humans had to believe they were bigger than they really were.
A small world is to Global Warming like time is to Evolution. For Evolution to be true, it needs a lot of time (hence the reason the world keeps getting older and older1). For Global Warming, we have to believe humans are actually of some real consequence of size when compared to the world. But it just isn't true...
The current world population is 6.6 billion people. The most dense city in terms of population is Manilla with 41,014 people per square kilometer. What does this mean? We can fit the entire world population in the state of Washington. Or maybe better put, humans only take up .108% of all the land on the globe, or .032% of the entire globe (including bodies of water).
Ok, but you say, Andy, who would want to live in Manilla. Fair enough, lets compare it to what I call the "good life." Fort Wayne, IN has a population density of 1,071 people per square kilometer. This means you can fit the the entire world population in the states west of the Mississippi plus Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. Or better put, 4.114% of all the land on the globe, or 1.208% of the entire globe (including bodies of water).Don't even get me started on the math when we switch from 2-dimensions percentages (area = people per square kilometer) verses 3-dimensional percentage (volume = people per cubic kilometer).
Now the question I pose: are we really as important and influential and in control of this world as we think?
Like I have said before, it isn't that I am against "global warming" per se, I am just skeptical. And despite what Walt Disney and Al Gore came up with, we don't live in a small world, we are just small people.2
1) His wife's name is Tipper.
2) Despite the fact that he lost the presidential election almost a decade ago, he still has the nation caring.
3) The reason you evidence is refutable is because you are not a scientist, but Al is. He invented science.
4) He could probably kill someone, make a documentary about a slide show he made about said killing, have someone write a really dumb song about it for the soundtrack, and remind us once again that he lost the election in 2000, and Hollywood would absolutely give him an Oscar.
5) He is my father.
Most of us would not prefer to live in such a world (unless, like in Foundation universe there are plenty of planets with decidedly lower population density). I do enjoy the metropolis, but also wide open spaces and wilderness (suburbia on the other hand I do not enjoy at all). Drastically increasing population density would encroach on wilderness.
By the way, do you not accept the real age of the Earth (4.5 billion years give or take a few millenia)? Are you a YEC?
But my real point was to put in perspective how small we are in comparison to the globe.
Trust me, I don't want to live any closer to those crazy Germans. Although I wouldn't mind living closer to those hot Swedish girls.
I am not really either. I think there are significant holes on both sides, and given the information out there now, think we don't know. Neither side particularly likes that perspective, but it's where I stand. In the end, I don't think the age of the earth (or evolution for that matter) really makes a difference to my theology.
While I do accept global climate change as a fact, I do acknowledge that it is uncertain to which extent humans do affect the current increase in mean global temperature. What is a fact is that human activity can and does increase CO2 concentration in the atmosphere in a very meaningful manner and that CO2 is a greenhouse gas. What is also very clear is that Kyoto treaty is a waste of ink and a wrong way to go about things.
As far as evolution, it is very solid. What many people in the evolution-creationism debate fail to grasp is that there is really no debate in the scientific community - creationists prefer to air the debate among the general population which by and large lacks sufficient knowledge to properly evaluate evidence. What is also generally ignored is that every branch of science - for example physics or astronomy - has its share of crackpots, many with PhDs. What separates those crackpots from creationists is that creationists lack the financial and other backing by the influential conservative Christianity. So, Allen Hunt will invite Jonathan Wells, who is a Moonie, and ex-con and an HIV denier and yes, a creationist, to his show but would never invite someone like Gene Ray, the Time Cube guy.