Noam Chomsky: If Nuclear War Doesn't Get Us, Climate Change Will

The growing threats of nuclear war and environmental catastrophe make it hard to bet on the survival of our species.

[@user-qc9gh7bh7t]

Noam Chomsky 2020

[@NothingParticularVid]

I don't know. I think maybe he's being a bit pessimistic in this clip. I think the fact that we haven't destroyed ourselves with nuclear weapons says a lot more about the human species than the fact that we could have, and still can. He says we've come close to nuclear disaster several times, and I think him attributing the fact that we're still here to luck doesn't really give people enough credit.

[@robertdavidson8028]

'want to rethink that statment now? Have you watched Jeffrey Sachs, Col. Douglas McGregor et al recently?

[@bryandukeBrynyab]

You need to understand what happened at the Bay of Pigs like he does to appreciate why it is in fact Luck that evaded termination.

[@pronoob1983]

seems pretty up to date to me

[@michaelwards7974]

This guy knows so much.

[@MrTheteach]

People that actually take the time to write negative comments and desire to have hostility in the Universe are part of the problem. Be like Mr. Chomsky and learn, engage, think, question, and converse with fellow humans. Great man!

[@kateanderson4416]

WAKE UP

[@Kevin_geekgineering]

wow that was so informative, all other media lies about this. Chomsky is the best

[@douglastovey2685]

For being sooooo bright, he is absolutely out of touch with reality. Not going to perish from either in my lifetime. Wow.

[@JFB1111]

How long is your lifetime? Care about your kids or grandkids, etc? Only referring to climate change.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"I don't owe you anything sir." The immediate response of an unethical person. You and everyone else has a duty to help your fellow man irrespective of how you are treated. Read some Kant.

[@weejockpoopongmcplop]

"Gorbachev proposed a nuclear weapons free zone from the Arctic down to the Mediterranean". That sounds like a euphemism for the nuclear disarmament of Britain and France. Why either of those countries would allow Russia and the USA to decide that matter is a bit of a mystery.

[@brianb7112]

he has to work within the system he lives in...

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"This hasn't just been observed on a grand scale such as mao and stalin, but also in tiny attempts such as Jonestown." Which is irrelevant as those are not communist societies. Communism under Marx's formulation is a stateless, classless, egalitarian society where the workers own the means of production. A communist state is an oxymoron. Jonestown wasn't even socialist and definitely wasn't egalitarian. People weren't allowed to leave and were worked harder than under capitalist societies.

[@Polthebaker]

"Nobody knows the exact details, but everybody knows that the longer you wait the worst is gonna be... and it could be very severe" I think you can apply that to pretty much everything that has some kind of "degenerative" condition. A little bit like Chomsky's brain.

[@michaelward2182]

***** 99% of climatologists don't agree on anything. If you are trying to say the 97% myth it's wrong. The 97% never existed, it was a false survey.

[@scuddyleblanc8637]

The earth is in a period of recovery from the very cold temperatures of the little ice age and from a very low level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere near the level where plants die. Climate related deaths are down 99% over the last decade, while life expectancy has increased dramatically. In the last 3 decades, the increasing temperatures and increasing carbon dioxide levels have made the earth greener and crops more productive.

[@susanzammit6873]

1. Don't run with scissors. 2. Don't run by the pool. 3. Don't eat the whole bar of ex-lax (It's NOT chocolate.) 4. Leave your nuclear weapons and chem. trails at home. [ Failure to obey safety rules could seriously hurt someone, and that someone could be you or someone you love. It is wrong to hurt people on purpose and negligent not take all precautions available to prevent others from being hurt.] I am certain world leaders have knowledge of this ancient wisdom !

[@otacon451]

The hero of everyone slightly more edgy than NPR

[@jimmycrackcorn2477]

I am happy bybye lol I love it

[@rchuso]

One will likely drive the other: climate change making food more expensive, places that experience increased rates of starvation and drought that also have nuclear weapons will have little deterrent or reason not to fight for their own survival.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"To me it sounds like garbage to be honest." AKA: I didn't actually understand what was being said because I read 150 pages of philosophy as if it was a novel. The reason why I know you didn't understand it is because of this gem: "It also sounds like marx himself expected the success of capitalism." No, and that is the entire point of Kapital; that capitalism suffers under clear internal contradictions that will result in the system collapsing just like all previous economic systems.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

...Which doesn't refute a single point that I made. Other than making me read a quote I've read multiple times, what was your point?

[@BlackEagleV200]

I think that any materialist as him, would take that as an insult.... xD

[@xxFortunadoxx]

No he fucking doesn't. He makes a clear distinction between public and private property within the manifesto. The ultimate irony in this is that a few years earlier in his manuscripts he details which forms of property are acceptable and which ones aren't. Of course you don't know that because you haven't read it.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

Lenin's position was also incredibly elitist which is why the mensheviks broke away during the rsdlp congress. The idea of a government or a vanguard party in charge ensures that you are not following Marx's formulation at all. Of course a government will exist to transition to socialism, and ultimately, to communism. However that time has come and gone. The contradictions inherent in capitalism are becoming so severe that it threatens the lives of billions of people.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

You're equivocating, because you don't know what he means by private property. At that part, he's referring to the property of bourgeois, not the other 99% of the society. This is patently obvious when he states: " Do you mean the property of the petty artisan and of the small peasant, a form of property that PRECEDED THE BOURGEOIS FORM? There is no need to abolish that" Another example of how you just don't know what you're talking about.

[@Jcolinsol]

That's slander, I'll sue you! Oh you are so being sued!

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"What makes you think you are any different?" Because I don't claim to have the right ideas about communism. I claim that Marx did. With the advancements of technology favoring socialist democracies rather than capitalist societies and the current trend of oppressive states rising up against the regimes, Marx's theory of Dialectical Materialism is more relevant than ever.

No

[@couldbe8348]

Chomsky be Kute .he be funny he so skat

[@D800Lover]

Has it occurred to anyone that the reason we have not have had a nuclear war, and there has been plenty of near misses, is because, horror of horror, that He is protecting the Earth as His property. *Know what I mean*?

[@degautaborg]

He? You must mean the cock in the height.

[@susanzammit6873]

Well, we even can't have a calm, rational discussion in the comment section: doesn't bode well for world peace.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"They don't have to stay poor." No. Instead, they get to advance to a higher level of status where they can proceed to step on others instead. Not to mention the blatant fact that you're ignoring where the system builds up contradictions which result in capitalism being a rigged game against the poor. So in actuality, no. They do have to stay poor. Communism offers everyone an equal share in leisure. From each according to his ability, to each according to their need.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

I like how the refutation to your comment lies within your comment. It's funny, because you don't realize what "means of production" means. It doesn't mean a stick of gum or a sandwich. It means the means by which those things are created. This is why there is a distinction between public and private property. Again, he makes this obvious distinction in the Communist Manifesto where he argues that the property he wishes to abolish is the bourgeois property and not all property.

[@vinlondon8904]

I understand that there will be a consequence for the business corporation if there's a general consensus among the big power states about the global warming and what steps to take in order to slow it down if it's a man-made. What I don't get is, the common people who sides with the skeptics about this issue. What on earth a common person gets out of it? There's no personal interest or anything expect he consciously accept of being brainwashed by the people who have an interest to deny it. Common sense dictates that we should be on the sides of the people who simply saying "we're damaging this earth. We should stop this and take care of it". What is wrong with being caring about our planet? And what's wrong with the common people who don't care?

[@richsmith2639]

The more appropriate question to be asked of this report should be “What does Lord Monckton get for peddling this climate change denier rubbish”? If nuclear war doesn't get us, climate change will.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"If private property isn't abolished" This is a superficial understanding of Marx. It is impossible to completely abolish private property because your person itself is private property which he freely admitted. Again, you're reading into him what you want to read into him in order to demonstrate how flawed his theory was.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

Actually, yes really. Personal responsibility does not equate to private property. Modern interpretations of Marx don't necessarily require the abolishment of private property, so you're just simply wrong there as well.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"Marx seemed to believe that capitalism could be surpassed." No shit. Really? You just figured that out? It's called dialectical materialism. It's the process by which human societies advance through. "If Marx was right then his mind" No, which demonstrates that you haven't read Critique of the Gotha Program, as he details what would be needed to transition to socialism from capitalism.

[@PHOSPH3R]

I don't think the KZbin comments section will increase in valuable discussion, even after the people and governments and armies and corporations decide to be rational and peaceful toward their fellow human beings." Anywho, Jeff Jarvis of The Guardian wrote a good article a couple of years back that I think you'd find interesting - if you search "America's absurd stab at systematising sock puppetry" it should be the first link that comes up.

[@bryandukeBrynyab]

Do you think your reaction to an intellectual is projecting a self loathing you're loathe to admit to.? There is not one point of his you could counter.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

I'm not saying that you agree with the ideology. What I'm saying is that you've abandoned your previous indictments of the ideology because you don't address them anymore.

[@LanceWinslow]

OMG - pour on the fear.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

Your entire comment is irrelevant because I never contended that Jones and his ilk didn't believe they were communists. I contended that the formulation they started with was nothing like Marx's and was doomed to failure because it was a bastardized form of stalinism which we already know fails ethically. "I think you will also be shocked" Not in the slightest. It was clear that he was trying to adapt soviet russia's principles because the economic output of russia was net positive.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

1) We're not going around in circles. Stop using meaningless phrases. 2) It's not a cop out to point out that their systems have nothing to do with communism. 3) "What concerns people is what happens..." Which is a pointless debate because it's never been tried. You obviously haven't even done a cursory examination of soviet russia or Maoist China or you'd realize immediately that that was not their goal from the outset. 4) Based on soviet russia's system. Nice job leaving that out.

[@bubba007sss]

Sounds like indoctrination to me

[@xxFortunadoxx]

[Except that hasn't happened with capitalism. Capitalism is what solved that very problem.] Which means you don't understand the US housing bubble and the moral hazard that stemmed from it, corporate personhood, or planned obsolescence. The fact that you contest this means you're in neo-conservative land. Suffice it to say, I am not continuing a discussion by someone who gave up the discussion 2 months ago and wants another shot, not to mention someone who compared jonestown to communism.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

Or maybe you should read your own comments where you say just that.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"You'd be at the mercy of the mob." Which is a contention that you have failed to demonstrate but also one that just simply isn't born out of the facts. Again, we know that shared stake in a company's production works. There are examples of companies today in which the worker base has equal share. Not to mention that you've now abandoned 80% of your previous criticisms of Marx's works. Private property in the colloquial sense, brutal dictatorships, etc. You're running out of ad hoc arguments.

[@texmurphy7205]

"Your comment reflects colossal ignorance." I see your one of his groupies.

[@jerzybala9403]

Again the moron gives no information of why Chomsky is fearmongering. These types of mental midgets are so prolific among the ignorant masses that you have to wonder what kind of brain matter exists in their tiny brain cavities? No matter that Chomsky is quoting thousands of scientists that have studied these issues in great depth and have reached the same conclusions.So go back and bury your head in the sand you clearly have an affinity to learning.

[@jerzybala9403]

I respect Chomsky's intelligence and views. Yea I might just be a groupie...I certainly could do a lot worse

[@jerzybala9403]

Isn't it neat to discover that evolution was right that we did come from lower and simpler forms of life when you read some of these criticisms of Chomsky...

[@dmann87zz14]

It's funny how you say perhaps less. It's like you care about lying, but not too much. Oh, and if you want to take on the task of bashing Noam, don't just say he's a liar, also say why. This is just for your own sake, so you don't make anymore ridiculous unfounded arguments.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

The golden rule predates christianity. Another example of how you don't know what you're talking about. "Kant is irrelevant here." Uh, no he's not.

[@texmurphy7205]

This guy belongs in the 50s era rock & roll albums. He is stuck in time & needs to be ignored.

[@iaindennis3321]

This man has been proved wrong time after time - surely it is time he retired and disappeared.

[@josephcek804]

U mean geoengineering and weather modification using Aerosols and HAARP frequency?? lol

[@josephwood2464]

You have apparently neither read nor understood him. Your comment reflects colossal ignorance.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"China was Communist under Mao..." No they weren't. This demonstrates that you don't know what communism is. "We could as someone in China..." I like how this statement fails because it's predicated on the previous one being true which also fails. "What nation & people have prospered..." None. Nor have any suffered or perished unlike capitalism. An actual communist state has never been tried. When you decide to actually learn what marxist communism is instead of the strawman, let me know.

[@tomcatallie]

your statements are based on nothing. absolutely nothing.

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"I've read Marx." No you haven't. At best you've read The Communist Manifesto and even that is suspect.. You have not read Das Kapital or The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 which are required reading to understand where Marx and Engels are coming from. The reason the revolution failed is because it was merely assumed that the revolution was a natural course of events and that it didn't have to be planned for. "who is the type to" Which I never do. More baseless claims.

[@linamartins3244]

Mr Chomsky is not very well 😀 what a joke, a man like him believing im such apocalíptic climate cult ..

[@xxFortunadoxx]

"Why should i work to help you?" Congratulations. You've also demonstrated your complete ignorance in ethics as well as political philosophy. Apparently you're ignorant of both the golden rule or the categorical imperative. While they both aren't the same, they express the same form of maxim. To act only in ways that can be universalized. This is antithetical to the notion of capitalism which is to maximize profit at the expense of others.