The Civil Heretic, Freeman Dyson, and the humanist perspective

This was a great cover story on Freeman Dyson in last week's New York Times Magazine. While much of the piece focuses on his critique of global warming theory, I think this passage draws out a much more profound, and more interesting, rift that gets far too little attention:

Beyond the specific points of factual dispute, Dyson has said that it all boils down to "a deeper disagreement about values" between those who think "nature knows best" and that "any gross human disruption of the natural environment is evil," and "humanists," like himself, who contend that protecting the existing biosphere is not as important as fighting more repugnant evils like war, poverty and unemployment.

Lost in much of the discussion about climate change and energy policy is a true accounting of the benefits of low cost and plentiful energy from the humanist perspective. We may take plentiful energy for granted in the West, but others around the world, such as the Chinese who are confronted with need to lift millions out of poverty, simply cannot afford to do the same.