Remember James Howard Kunstler's "Long Emergency"? In his latest Viridian note, Bruce Sterling publishes Kunstler's piece with Viridian annotations.

"Even if hydrogen storage and transport turn out to have insuperable problems, that doesn't make hydrogen a "hoax." A hoax is a deliberate fraud."

What's the difference between self-delusion and fraud?

Posted by: odograph on July 19, 2005 6:54 AM

... finished skimming now. Kunstler is "out there" far enough to make a convenient straw man.

A more serious question is "how will American ideas about environmental protection change as fossil fuels become more expensive? will Americans accept more (or dirtier) coal? will they worry less about storage of nuclear waste?"

Posted by: odograph on July 19, 2005 6:59 AM

Ah yes... this is what the blog-o-ma-sphere likes to call 'fisking' (after the hapless Robert Fisk) - basically taking someone else's writing and appending a bunch of snarky comments. Easier than shooting fish in a barrel, and about as insightful.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not carrying water for Kunstler here. And I loves me some Bruce Sterling. But this is throwaway stuff. Why not just post 'JHK is a big fat dumb-head' and get it over with?

Posted by: Jesse on July 19, 2005 9:51 AM

Because we needs our cheap laughs, yes indeed.

Posted by: Emily Gertz on July 19, 2005 11:23 AM

when satiric alarmist hyperbole twains casual sarcastic rejoinder, the results are bound to be mixed.

Posted by: Jon S. on July 19, 2005 1:46 PM

Only managed to get 1/3 through it. I thought, if there's not an accurate or funny comment by then, why bother? Always thought Bruce Sterling was good for both, nails hit on the head with wit; but this misses the nails completely as the tumbleweed drifts by...

Posted by: Gyrus on July 20, 2005 11:02 AM