The crisis of the hour is climate change. Politicians are eager to convince the American people that zillions of tax dollars are needed for the rescue of the planet, which rescue will, of course never materialize. Nevertheless, the politicians and non-profits are working to persuade Americans to vote for the government funding of climate change prevention.
With a population that never studies Reasoning, these arguments are easy.
Yesterday, I watched a video titled, “Is water the new gold?”, which warned that the western United States is turning into a desert. The cause, of course, is “climate change”.
In the video, several examples are investigated, where lakes are drying up, reservoirs are emptying and cities are running out of water.
Clearly, the climate is changing–the examples prove it!
Well, not exactly.
First of all, examples can never prove a universal statement. This is called “inductive” reasoning and only proves possibility unless all instances are observed.
Second, the examples used are not relevant to the argument. Yes, there have been drought conditions. Yes, the lands are drying up. But there’s something important to note about these water bodies:
They’re artificial.
The lakes and reservoirs that are presented as examples in the video are man-made. They were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when men were rushing to the west to search for gold. They are not natural bodies of water drying up as the climate changes. They are man-made experiments that are being proven unsustainable within a century of their formation.
They prove nothing about the climate or about the planet.
The images of the dried up lakes and news of water restrictions in cities developed in the middle of deserts will be enough to win the support of the American people, but they are irrelevant to the issue.
The moral of the lesson is: study Reasoning before it’s too late.
-WCM
