Dinesh D’Souza once said of Richard Dawkins’ problematic references to history that, “This is what happens when you let a biology major out of the lab.”
D’Souza was on to something, especially judging from a recent Slate article written by famous Harvard biologist and professor Martin Nowak and Harvard postdoctoral fellow David Rand. In it, they explain that America needs “motivation” when it comes to reducing it’s carbon footprint. This article has everything that makes conservatives squirm: love of the Prius, hardcore environmentalism, and longing for absurd government regulation. See for yourself [Caution NSFL – Not Safe For Libertarians]:
Even better than voluntary displays would be laws enforcing disclosure. For example, governments could require energy companies to publish the amount of electricity used by each home and business in a searchable database. Likewise, gasoline use could be calculated if, at yearly inspections, mechanics were required to report the number of miles driven. Cars could be forced to display large stickers indicating average distance traveled, with inefficient cars labeled similarly to cigarettes:“Environmentalist’s warning: This car is highly inefficient. Its emissions contribute to climate change and cause lung cancer and other diseases.” Judging from our laboratory research, such policies would motivate people to reduce their carbon footprint.
Although laws of this kind raise possible privacy issues, the potential gains could be great. In a world where each of us was accountable to everybody else for the environmental damage we cause, there would be strong incentives to reduce the energy we use, the carbon dioxide we emit and the pollution we create. In such a world, we might be able to avert a global tragedy of the commons.
This is, after all, the end of the world we are talking about, so why stop there? Why not go full Scarlet Letter? People with more than 2 kids should have to carry signs with them apologizing for over populating our sensitive planet. People who can’t afford $25,000 hybrids, lets call them the “commons”, need to be branded with a “I Cause Cancer” stamp on their forehead. And if you don’t recycle, Gaia forbid, you should go straight to jail. Wouldn’t that “motivate people to reduce their carbon footprint”?
This, of course, reinforces William F. Buckley’s old adage that he would rather be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston telephone directory than by the faculty of Harvard.
Just like how those in Hollywood should stick to their area of expertise, so should Harvard biologists.
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