Humans naturally prone to irrational, apocalyptic thoughts

Thanks to Henry Ergas for his wonderful piece on apocalyptic thought and behaviour through the ages (“The end of days — they’re everywhere if you look”, 13/3). There is no doubt it shaped much of history, especially religions that blended fear, guilt and redemption into an effective cocktail.

Fear: the world is threatened by something terrible. Guilt: and it’s your fault, brought on by your sinful failure to obey the gods. Redemption: but all is not lost — repent, do as we say, put us in charge, give us money and you will be saved.

The ancient Jews perfected the process and later religions institutionalised it, and in our post-religious world various green groups have turned it into an art form, scaring schoolchildren and gullible adults, raising vast sums, winning political power, creating warm inner glows and stymieing progress.

So if you bewail the triumph of emotion and ideology over fact and reason in much of the world, now you know why it’s happened. The human race is naturally prone to irrational fear and guilt that must be overcome if fact and reason are to prevail.

Doug Hurst, Chapman, ACT

She’ll be right mate. Never has this Australian motto been so correct. Henry Ergas tells us that catastrophising is a constant human reaction to crisis. So we can relax: our agreeable PM has confounded his critics by delivering a stimulus package; predictions of sea-level rises ignore the fact that they haven’t yet risen; the reality of global warming has a shaky hold as better catastrophes take the stage.

Betty Cockman, Dongara, WA

Why divest coal stocks?

In defence of the University of NSW decision to divest its interests in fossil fuels, vice-chancellor Ian Jacobs says the “decision to divest is not the equivalent of demanding the closure of the mining industry”. Why do it then? What message is UNSW seeking to send?

I think it best to leave the final word to former UNSW vice-chancellor Fred Hilmer who in 2014 said of the same proposition: “In reaching our position, we note the words of Drew Faust, president of Harvard, who warned of the risk of using investment funds in ways ‘that would appear to position the university as a political actor rather than an academic institution.’

Joel Fitzgibbon, opposition spokesman for resources, Cessnock, NSW

Ian Jacobs says the reason the University of NSW divested from fossil fuel assets is because we are in a global climate emergency, and that we must all work together against this existential threat.

Jacobs fails to tell us where is the evidence of this climate emergency. He expects us to believe that by becoming carbon neutral, droughts, bushfires, cyclones and floods — which are all normal events — will cease, that renewables will provide a continuous supply of cheap, reliable base-load power, and that the planet will be pulled from the precipice.

According to Jacobs, the only question to be addressed is how the benefits and burdens of making the transition to zero emissions should be distributed within society.

This should raise a red flag. Distribution means there will be winners and losers. And the biggest losers will workers, communities and businesses directly affected by the closure of the fossil fuel industry.

Dale Ellis, Innisfail, Qld

University of NSW chief Ian Jacobs is so politically correct when he says: “mining (in Australia) gives us uranium for cancer treatments”.

Uranium is also needed in the rest of the world for power generation and could be used for this purpose in Australia if we had the sense. It is also needed for nuclear-related research and measurements, and for industrial radioisotopes.

Don Higson, Paddington, NSW