[skywhopper]

Recently had a battery storage facility nixed near where I live because the loudest local residents were panicked about possibilities of leaks of heavy chemicals into the groundwater (which is somewhat fair) and a bunch of less reasonable nonsense. Still, assuming the legit risks can be handled, facilities like these are crucial to future growth in electricity demand.

[infecto]

We are in the age of anti-intellectualism.

https://www.propublica.org/article/michigan-solar-farms-heal...

We have been pumping oil out of the ground for lifetimes and still have little concern for all the leaky dead wells across the country but these solar panels, that’s the real problem.

[joe_mamba]

We have also been breathing fine coal, diesel, brake-pad and tire dust for almost 100 years with no riots from gen-pop, but clean nuclear and batteries will kill us.

[maxerickson]

About 15 years ago there was some interest in putting in some wind towers in the township I lived in. People were talking about stray electricity killing their livestock. Never mind the several dozen towers already installed 3 miles away.

[joe_mamba]

>People were talking about stray electricity killing their livestock.

That's why I think voting shouldn't be a universal right to everyone, but a privilege you gain after clearing certain bars, one of them being basic education and an IQ test.

Giving every dumbass the same voting power as an academic, to grind national development to a halt and make life shit for everyone else just because they don't understand 5th grade physics, is a recipe for disaster and we're living proof of it.

If you ever worked in public rations and interacted with the gen-pop off the street on a regular basis, you'd see my point eye-to-eye. The masses are too stupid to be entrusted with national decisions, and the only reason they are allowed to, is because they are easily manipulated into voting the way the elites want them to, because they're stupid.

It's exactly why Plato opposed democracy arguing the same faults.

  >Plato argued that democracy gives power to the masses (the demos), who are often ignorant, emotional, and easily manipulated by skilled speakers (rhetoricians and demagogues).

Indisputable fact.

  >Plato believed that ruling is a skill that requires deep knowledge, wisdom, and training in philosophy — not something that should be decided by majority vote or popularity. 

Indisputable fact.

  >He famously compared democracy to a ship where the sailors (citizens) vote on navigation, instead of letting the trained captain (philosopher) steer. The result, according to him, is chaos.

Indisputable fact.

[Kon5ole]

"Democracy is the worst kind of government except for all the others" - Churchill.

Indisputable fact. ;-)

[tardedmeme]

it's a nice idea but you know they used to have this, and the test was basically just a list of things white people were more likely to know

[joe_mamba]

IDK, I'm not from a country that did stuff like that, so don't try to pin some original sin from the US history on me. I'm from a pretty homogenous country with no racial issues.

Now are you saying only whites will be able to understand 5th grade physics and nobody else? Or that whites can't be stupid too?

Personally I don't care about your skin color, or other factors, if you're THAT stupid, I don't want you deciding the future of our country, period, since you're putting everyone in danger.

If you can't pass 5th grade physics, you're not fit to be voting on the country's nuclear energy policy, simple.

[pstuart]

I agree with the complaint but have yet to see a mechanism that is free of abuse and disenfranchisement.

People are stupid and vote with their emotions or what the pastor told them to. It would be lovely to ensure that votes came from well informed voters.

[infecto]

It’s like communism or anarchocapitlism, it works on paper but hard in practice. Preventing voting is a nice idea but really hard to get right because humans are messy animals.

The world is messy and one of the reasons I am such a believer in markets on average is because they help align outcomes in the world we live in.

[infecto]

It’s a weird time. You would think folks would be excited about technology but we have this weird even in America where everything is scary. Facebook brainrot is no issue but F those EVs.

[maxerickson]

Did they even have a material listing to base their fear on?

[pathartl]

The argument is only fair if they provide some valid information to back up their claims. There's a project to put in a BESS near my rural hometown and every anti argument is based on non-LiFEpo cells and self-inflicted confused overlap with the data center water use arguments. This is while completely supporting "beautiful farmlands" that leech pesticides and phosphates into the water table

[pjc50]

I do think there should be localized referendums where we offer people the choice of taking energy infrastructure out of local approval altogether in exchange for 10% off their bills. It would save so much time and effort. I suspect the silent majority would happily take it leaving a few people yelling at pylons.

[Symbiote]

The UK implements something similar, though without the choice.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/households-near-new-pylon...