Thomas Sowell: Global Warming Manufactured by Intellectuals?

FORA.tv0 HN recommenders · 2017–2020
667K views · commentary · dated · Uploaded 2010-01-25

A short clip in which Thomas Sowell argues that demand for intellectuals is manufactured by intellectuals, using global warming predictions as an example. It is an excerpt from a longer talk on his book Intellectuals and Society.

Mostly debated or criticized; one commenter found his points fair, while others questioned his climate views.

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3 comments from Hacker News

@the_gastropod2017 · in “Why Are the Highly Educated So Liberal? (2016)”

To be honest, I'd never heard of Thomas Sowell. So I looked him up. One of the first things I find is this interview: [VIDEO] I'm sure he has some very compelling writings. But do you find his take on climate to be logical and reasonable? I do not.

CriticalView on HN
@seppin2020 · in “For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business”

I found this [VIDEO] He calls climate science a "racket". Why are you encouraging people to listen to him?

CriticalView on HN
@theicfire2020 · in “Thomas Sowell interview”

Thomas Sowell is a critic of the climate change/environmental science initiatives, and it's one of the reasons I heavily question his other views. Here's a 3 min video of him talking about it: [VIDEO] The points he makes are quite fair. The science isn't perfect, yes. Often, people try to hide that the science isn't perfect, too. But the impact is roughly the product of the magnitude of the impact and the probability of the event. In this case, the magnitude is enormous and the probability is less than 100% but seemingly quite large. Dr. Sowell seems to simply argue that climate reports suggest that the probability is higher than it truly is. But if a report suggest 95%, and Dr. Sowell thinks it's more like 40%, the core issue is still enormous. I would want him to talk about why he thinks the huge effects of anthropogenic climate change are such a vanishingly small probability to the point that we shouldn't do anything about it. Here's another article by him: [LINK]