Every time I encounter people afraid of scientists being ‘alarmist’ I see fear masquerading as 1001 justification for negligence, false moral superiority, and license to check out and deflect responsibility.
If you are an archer and trying to hit the bullseye, and you are repeatedly missing to the right, you must overcorrect from whatever you possibly think is center if you indeed wish to hit the center. For those whose bodies are still involved in labor and skill, this is a no-brainer. Only those disconnected from process would think incrementalism will achieve adequacy.
Those who understand Aristotle’s Golden Mean – or Taoism’s Middle Way know that sometime the middle looks extreme from jaundiced perspectives.
Whatever our fears of overcorrecting, it is abundantly clear that our current tack is woefully insufficient.
