Renewable Revolution

The above is known as a Procrustean bed in critical thinking and logic. The use of this "bed" is rooted in Greek mythology.

The contemporary use of this "my way or the high way" type of "logic" was recently practiced by TWO people at the TAE in response to some "feather ruffling" that I engaged in (see this thread from beginning to end for details). A THIRD person from TAE comes here to use the same type of flawed logic and sophistic debating skills to flip arguments on their head in order to "WIN" the argument and defend his fellow Procrustean Bed Believers at TAE.

I have observed many responses from fellow Doomsteaders to this technique and I am happy to report nobody here is taken in by the Procrustean Bed Con of attempting to frame the argument boundaries for a guaranteed win. IOW, bullshit goes over like a lead ballon around here. :emthup:

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A Procrustean bed is an arbitrary standard to which exact conformity is forced.

But most entertaining is when someone of a scientific and technical mindset engages in these Procrustean Bed fun and games to get "acceptable" EROI numbers for fossil fuels.

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A Procrustean solution is the undesirable practice of tailoring data to fit its container or some other preconceived structure.

In a Procrustean solution in statistics, instead of finding the best fit line to a scatter plot of data, one first chooses the line one wants, then selects only the data that fits it, disregarding data that does not, so to "prove" some idea. It is a form of rhetorical deception made to forward one set of interests at the expense of others. The unique goal of the Procrustean solution is not win-win, but rather that Procrustes wins and the other loses. In this case, the defeat of the opponent justifies the deceptive means.

The above procedure is how fossil fuels are made to look better than renewables.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes

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The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.