The analysts identify three major crises. One of them, of course, is nuclear war. The second is the destruction of the environment. The third is the deterioration of rational discourse. It may sound at first as though the third does not qualify or does not rank with the two existential threats, serious as it may be. That’s a mistake. It does qualify. The reason is that the only hope for confronting the two existential crises is through rational deliberation and planning guided by an informed citizenry. So those three crises are the right choice.
Noam Chomsky
In this quote, Chomsky refers to analysts of the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic clock held at the University of Chicago that has evaluated, since 1947, the risks of destruction of the human race by nuclear war.
The quote was made in the online course How to Stop the Doomsday Clock, which I was fortunate enough to attend. I recommend the course to readers of the blog.
Notes
Noam Chomsky – Here is a short bio and posts on this blog about him.
The Doomsday Clock – Wikipedia.
How to Stop the Doomsday Clock Course – Instituto Conhecimento Liberta.
Published on my blog in Portuguese on April 23, 2022: Noam Chomsky: A deterioração do discurso racional.
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