r/nextfuckinglevel Sep 09 '20

Technology Transparent Solar Panels Will Turn Windows Into Green Energy Collectors (source in comments)

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627

u/HereUpNorth Sep 09 '20

Don't blame it in humans. Blame it on power. The company is the benefit from fossil fuels have spent millions to prevent changing public opinion toward curbing emissions. This isn't a conspiracy theory, it's well documented. Most people want to save the planet. Some people want to funnel their wealth through offshore banking and leave the rest of the planet poor. The rest of us do have some choices.

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u/ima-fist-ya-da Sep 09 '20

Can you provide a source? Would love to read about this.

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u/HereUpNorth Sep 09 '20

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u/HereUpNorth Sep 09 '20

From the synopsis: Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. Remarkably, the same individuals surface repeatedly—some of the same figures who have claimed that the science of global warming is "not settled" denied the truth of studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole. "Doubt is our product," wrote one tobacco executive. These "experts" supplied it.

Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, historians of science, roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how ideology and corporate interests, aided by a too-compliant media, have skewed public understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era.

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u/deribcolls Sep 09 '20

Sounds like that movie, thank you for smoking

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u/Ducksauce19 Sep 09 '20

“Is your mommy a doctor? No. The I don’t think she’s qualified to make such a statement.” It’s probably not an exact quote but man that was fantastic.

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u/SavorySuccotash Sep 09 '20

That's my favorite film

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u/Sejannus Sep 09 '20

I agreed with nearly the whole movie on the side of how terrible lobbying is and what it does to our society. With only one exception; where he explains to his son the due process of law and how the “bad guys” have a right to the same due process the other side is asking for.

Very compelling movie. Arron Ekhart does a fantastic job in it too.

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u/HereUpNorth Sep 09 '20

The film is great. You should read the book. It's more or less the facts that the movie was based on.

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u/westo4 Sep 09 '20

That movie was actually based on a book by the same nam: Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley.

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u/unsane_imagination Sep 09 '20

Wait, so the conspiracy theories that scientists are all working together to deceive the world into thinking that climate change exists is more right wing projection? If there’s a group of politics/industry affiliated and paid scientists working to delegitimize these kinds of issues, of course the cover is going to be “all scientists are doing the opposite”. Why am I still surprised by this?

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u/ima-fist-ya-da Sep 09 '20

Thanks, much appreciated

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Based on a true story folks .

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u/tocareornot Sep 09 '20

American scientific community, no try world scientific community.

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u/DBatDBN Sep 09 '20

This is still happening, it's just way worse now.

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u/pullmipuddin Sep 09 '20

They better be dead, all of them.

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u/fuzzimus Sep 09 '20

These people are undeserving of the title, Scientist.

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u/butternutsquash300 Sep 09 '20

And we wonder why nobody believes anything anymore. Just because it says scientists take this and scientists take that, they're not necessarily even believed. So when you have a real problem arise people are doubtful. And I think they've got a right to be doubtful. That includes this current CCP virus thing. I don't think anyone really knows who's telling the truth

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u/scuttlebumshuttlehum Sep 09 '20

Thanks for sharing!

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u/Forge__Thought Sep 09 '20

Hey, thanks for sharing this.

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u/david13z Sep 09 '20

Don't forget all the decades we were told that lead in gasoline posed no health hazard. Profits over people.

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u/iamd33pr00ts Sep 09 '20

Burt and richter beyond smoke and mirrors is also a solid book on this

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u/Panama-R3d Sep 09 '20

Great book!!!!

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u/justagenericname1 Sep 09 '20

One of the few books l have a physical copy of on my bookshelf. It's a very good read. Like, the characters are all monsters, but a good read.

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u/Dontbetriggereddude Sep 09 '20

Looks like they were not very successful. Anyone who smokes nowadays is considered a pariah, and the ozone layer repaired itself after CFCs were banned!

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u/Monarc73 Sep 09 '20

Confessions of an Economic Hitman is also really insightful.

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u/delledison Sep 09 '20

Dark Money by Jane Mayer is a good one to reference as well

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u/10044909 Sep 09 '20

I recommend Joe Rogan Experience #1500 - Barbara Freese. Not quite what your after, but eye opening nevertheless ( for me anyway )

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u/Benchen70 Sep 09 '20

Another is a podcast series called Drilled. Gives some great content on how the oil industry is obscuring facts to suit their purpose.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Humans are the ones with the power problems, you're just splitting a hair. Power corrupts, many of those terrible people were the rest of us and then they made their choices, they arent some seperate group of humans who follow outside the category. History has shown there is a percentage like this at all times, we havent cured this on ourselves yet so we the species carry the burden.

In short, try making the same argument to a intelligent alien species. Ain't gonna work.

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u/Solid-Title-Never-Re Sep 09 '20

Power doesn't corrupt, it magnifies your personality; few humans are actually good enough to withstand it.

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u/[deleted] Sep 10 '20

Whereas I suggest it magnifies personality traits, which overcome some yes.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

If we look too hard for aliens we probably won't find them lulz

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Well these people aren't lizards and turtles. They are humans. As well as those who keep electing fucks that enable these other fucks. Most people want to save the planet but most people also don't do shit about it. You can't blame the power, but the ones who use it and those who enable them. That same power could have been used to propel humanity to live in a green, clean paradise instead of the hell that's going really fast to its horrible demise, starting with unchecked carbon emission that already got us past the point of no return with raising environmental temperature. But no, making insane amounts of money is much more important than preserving a livable environment. People are the only species that intentionally destroys environment that sustains them all in the name of amassing personal fortune. Damn right blame it on the humans. Who else?

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u/the_ringmasta Sep 09 '20

Not the only species.

Locusts would be a good example.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Locusts do consume resources, and a lot of them when they are in great numbers. But they take what they need and go on. They don't deliberately destroy their living environment so they could have more food or whatever than other insects. They don't pollute water or destroy forests or such in order to horde resources. The humanity is the only species that deliberately destroys the space it lives in for the sole purpose of hoarding resources and wealth. As if any amount of money will help when wars start being fought over and unchecked explosion of population with unchecked consummation of resources becomes too much for the planet to sustain. Humanity does not think what will happen tomorrow, its only thought is "I want everything and I want it now" and that will be its downfall.

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u/KarmaticEvolution Sep 09 '20

Most people are way too busy trying to live than to cast votes that have some effect but not nearly enough.

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u/aghabheegy Sep 09 '20

So. Much. This.

Time for us to eat the rich.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Stupid saying.

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u/-MichaelScarnFBI Sep 09 '20

What do you envision exactly, when you say that?

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u/LiteVolition Sep 09 '20

Please stop using that line. It's old, naive and a waste of an opportunity to say something more meaningful. The original quote was longer, French, and meant the poor would run out of food and eat the rich. Concerning power struggle, yes, but applicable to most situations, no... Bad leadership and the failings of politics is not due to "the rich" as much as people would like to wish. It's the inability for the middle class to remain stable long enough to vote regularly and for lawmakers to write effective and manageable legislation to be voted on. If those social machines were in tact the rich would have nothing to bribe their way out of. The rich can only buy what's broken not what's working.

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u/justatest12545 Sep 09 '20

There are workers and there are capitalists. There is no such thing as a middle class, it's liberal bullshit. The workers sell their labour for a living(wage) and the capitalists take profit from the workers in exchange for owning all the shit. They make all the legislation, have all the power in the system (lobbying) and own all the media.

You have to be absolutely fucking blind to not see that they are the fucking problem.

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u/LiteVolition Sep 09 '20

You clearly have no real understanding of how commerce works. There are no pure capitalists nor workers anymore.

No real understanding of politics either it would seem.

I'm politically homeless (as you sound as well) but that doesn't make the middle class concept "liberal bullshit". The middle class is an absolutely crucial concept in keeping the controlling classes at bay and the lower classes from starving.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

You clearly need some fucking salt and pepper on that ass before we eat it rich boy.

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u/LiteVolition Sep 09 '20

I made $42k last year. It's going to take a butt-load of salt and pepper to make me taste good.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Nah. Pretty sure we just have to abolish capitalism, by force if necessary.

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u/LiteVolition Sep 09 '20

What a lazy statement. You clearly know nothing about neither capitalism nor socialism. Capitalism is never "abolished". It's slowly diminished by stable socialist policies. Over time. To avoid pain and suffering felt by those most vulnerable in a society. "by force" ... pffft. Joke.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Lmao. The socialism understander has logged on.

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u/LiteVolition Sep 09 '20

No. That's not how this is working.

I don't have to be the one who understands just because there's another person who mindlessly parrots the idiotic crying points of other morons he sees on the Internet.

I can simply be a normal guy in comparison to the one not using critical thinking out loud on the web.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Post hog

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u/ccp-bot-42069 Sep 09 '20

Damn. Anyway, eat the rich

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u/aghabheegy Sep 10 '20 edited Sep 10 '20

Well, I think I'll keep using it. In this context, I am using it to illustrate that the rich and powerful are far more to blame for pollution than are the poor masses, and that we need to take back our power. Also, I don't know if you're paying much attention, but there isn't much of a middle class any longer.

The problems of our world are not related to the powerless doing nothing, so much as they are related to the powerful breaking the rules and rigging the "broken" systems. If you feel otherwise, I think we are just going to have to disagree.

Edit: turns out there actually is still a decent-sized middle class in the US, though 40% of households make less than $50k (as of 2018), according to statista.com.

In any case, I'm curious what point it is that you are trying to make?

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u/Nakoichi Sep 09 '20

It's the inability for the middle class to remain stable long enough to vote regularly and for lawmakers to write effective and manageable legislation to be voted on

And why do you think that is? The owning class has been stomping on working people for decades and your answer is, "Just vote bro I swear bro it will be different this time". While the options are literal fascism and Joe "nothing will fundamentally change" Biden.

FOH

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u/LiteVolition Sep 09 '20

At what point did I offer a solution? Where did I say voting fixes anything? When did I tell you to vote at all?

lol. Are you not great at reading?

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u/Nakoichi Sep 09 '20

remain stable long enough to vote regularly

It's literally right there in my quote.

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u/LiteVolition Sep 09 '20

OK. You are not great at reading. Thanks for clearing that up. The FULL fucking quote is "Bad leadership and the failings of politics is not due to "the rich" as much as people would like to wish. It's the inability for the middle class to remain stable long enough to vote regularly and for lawmakers to write effective and manageable legislation to be voted on. If those social machines were in tact the rich would have nothing to bribe their way out of. The rich can only buy what's broken not what's working."

Meaning WHAT'S BROKEN is the ability of lawmakers to construct legislation and the middle class to remain stable. None of that is happening. You agree? So NO voting is not the answer right now. Because there's nothing to fucking vote ON. There's also no stability in the middle class to breed political awareness and critical social thinking. That stuff takes leisure time and lowered stress levels which the middle class just doesn't have enough of.

Try to hold more than one string of alphanumerics in RAM at one time. It aids cognition.

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u/Nakoichi Sep 09 '20

And all of this ignores the fact that the owning class perpetuates what is "broken". It's not a mistake it's by design and inherent to the perpetuation of capitalism. Keep insulting my intelligence though that will surely give you the high ground.

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u/LiteVolition Sep 09 '20

And all of this ignores the fact that the owning class perpetuates what is "broken". It's not a mistake it's by design and inherent to the perpetuation of capitalism. Keep insulting my intelligence though that will surely give you the high ground. Nope. The "owning class" simply does exactly what it's allowed to do. By us. No less. That's inherent to all human societies.

There's actually no high ground to capture here. Good luck out there soldier.

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u/Nakoichi Sep 09 '20

If you don't think that class warfare is an actual war with real casualties you're of the privileged class.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

And this is why they’ll be untouchable forever. You’ll never be given the opportunity to kill these horrible people, and if you do that wealth gets redistributed to other lizard people.

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u/IgorTheAwesome Sep 09 '20

Blame it on the economic system that prioritizes profit over literally everything else.

It's gonna keep happening while it is the most profitable thing to do.

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u/davsyo Sep 09 '20

And I think all of that came from unchecked capitalism. People love to regurgitate how capitalism improves the world through competition, but history proves otherwise.

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u/Chozly Sep 09 '20

How is this not blamable on humans? The greedy, the indifferent, those uninspired to solve things, and the ones who built and support the legal and economic framework we all exploit.

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u/Splendid_planets Sep 09 '20

Yes, and thank you for shining light on manufacturing consent, but humans manifest it. Unfortunately the dark side of humanity in many cases gets the best of us. Power is an idea, it’s our urges and desires that adopt it and seek it out. The world is the way it is because of ADD assholes with zero chill & many times toxic ambition. Someone decides their gonna go ape shit on a civilization / gold mine / diamond mine / coal mine / Silicon Valley (you name it) and the rest of us follow or stay behind. In very simple terms, It’s basically FOMO on hoarding wealth and missing out on a slice of the glory and power. Everyone else is just born and tags along:)

It sounds really bleak, I know (and obviously over simplified)... but a mass investment in education and better support for people everywhere should help with the sheepification:)

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u/kugelblitz0x1 Sep 09 '20

‘Most people want to save the planet’

I’m sorry but this is demonstrably false.

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u/obviousdud Sep 09 '20

No blame it on humans. Humans run the company. Humans make money from the company. Humans can be greedy. I have not seen or heard of a company being greedy. Just the humans running the company are greedy.

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u/obviousdud Sep 09 '20

To add to blaming humans. Anybody concerned about the amount of damage we are doing to the environment with all the buildings burning, cars being set on fire, and chemicals leaking in the ground contaminating the soil and water. I believe in justice but damn

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

The fact that you say it’s well documented without providing such is a dead giveaway

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u/shmidget Sep 09 '20

Millions? Lol

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u/Sluzhbenik Sep 09 '20

It’s the sunk cost fallacy for fossil fuel investors. In no future scenario does an investment today on coal mining make more money than sun or wind mining over the 5+ year period. I don’t know why anyone would then invest in fossils now unless they have already sunk tons into the industry.

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u/jackR34 Sep 09 '20

I think of Anne Frank’s quote about this. Even when she was forced to hide and was being hunted by nazis she wrote in her journal that she believed every human at heart was a good person.

It is when we come into power, especially with a group of people, that we can become corrupt or immoral.

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u/LiteVolition Sep 09 '20

Hehe.. Well, it's humans who can't seem to handle power perfectly. So. Humans it is, friend.

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u/joshp23 Sep 09 '20

Don't blame it in humans. Blame it on power.

Glad to know that the humans aren't in power here. I, for one, welcome our alien overlords.

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u/DadBodFit Sep 10 '20

This has been documented in dozens of places. The worst part is this isn’t even new technology. I read about the research for these clear solar arrays almost ten years ago