DmurphyMay 12, 2023
Christopher Mims

would definitely read a long essay on the doomerism-industrial complex:

what it is

how it makes it hard to prioritize threats by treating all of them as existential

how the "marketplace of ideas" of social / mass media created it, by incentivizing everyone to turn their rhetoric to 11

for balance, musings by those who believe the entire idea of a 'doomerism industrial complex' is bunk, because we really DO face that many existential threats

ty in advance for anyone brave enough to tackle 🙏

May 11, 2023 at 3:37pmWeb
Show threadShoqMay 11, 2023
@mimsical It’s an important topic. Probably needs a bounty on it :)
Show threadKim ScheinbergMay 11, 2023

@mimsical
I wish I could remember who pointed me to this so that I could give them credit

https://nadia.xyz/climate-tribes

It's climate-fixated but it addresses that doomerism industry well.

Mapping out the tribes of climate

Climate is a gravity well for talent, but why don’t other, equally impactful topics attract talent in the same way? Why isn’t everyone dropping everything to work on homelessness, or global poverty, or curing cancer? With many peers in tech now working on climate issues, I tried to understand why this topic holds such purchase for so many people – and its incredible staying power over the decades.

Nadia Asparouhova
Show threadChristopher MimsMay 11, 2023
@kims super interesting. thank you!
Show threadTonyduncMay 12, 2023
@kims @mimsical very odd. Some really good thoughtful analysis, but the characterization of “doomerism” has no connection to the reality I know. I would say I fit into all of the first five tribes he mentions. But I see the “doomers“ as being a small fringe with some tangential rather trite social fadders spouting nonsense with no political or scientific credence that gets more media coverage than is merited. Not sure how he gets that to be the major “hard outer shell”. I would take this as more accurate by saying “alarmist”, since I certainly fall into the category of being alarmed at the potential damage, as do most climate scientists as well. There are a tiny number of “doomer” scientists but they have no significant impact on the science.
And as I stated, I consider myself to have significant aspects of the five other “tribes” and I would say most people involved in climate issues scientifically or policy wise have some combination of those to different degrees. I was also a little concerned about the references to Crichton, Shellenberg and and Lomborg. All three are fairly disingenuous activists focused on minimizing the consequences of Climate change, with Crichton promoting quite unscientific arguments that contradicted the scientific understanding. The other two accept the the premise of climate change but ignore key science in order to promote their unsupported narratives. I have engaged with both, and Shelkenburger especially seems incapable of engaging in rational discourse. Neither will address numerous aspects on issues they have been clearly wrong about.
Also while the science behind climate change has gained significant acceptance among the general population. There is still a huge minority that controls the base of the Republican Party that absolutely denies the science and insists it is all a hoax. But I DO like the way he has analyzed and engaged with people and provided interesting insight into the thoughts and approaches of different groups
Show threadAlexMay 11, 2023

@mimsical you could do a whole chapter of a book about it that focused only on “Anthony J Leonardi, MBBS, PhD,” the Twitter influencer who just made up things to make every COVID variant seem apocalyptic, couched it all in inscrutable language, and even spawned an “explainer” account that tried to give people a plain English translation of his still-very wrong posts.

Also: something broader about the doomer PhD accounts that gained clout by using “Dr.” in their display names during peak COVID

Show threadChristopher MimsMay 11, 2023
@eARCwelder oof, yes. great example.