Il balletto della retorica

Avete presente il concetto di “sostenibilità” e “sviluppo sostenibile”? Va per la maggiore in molti dibattiti e sarebbe meglio darsi una rinfrescatina in merito:

… The generally accepted definition comes from the Brundtland Report, which defines sustainable development as: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs….

Ora, David Friedman ha un dubbio: si tratta solo di un vuoto balletto retorico o siamo di fronte ad una vera e propria “cattiva idea”? Infatti:

… There are two problems with this definition. The first is that implementing it requires us to predict what the future will be like in order to know what the needs of future generations will be. Consider two examples:

1. The cost of solar power has been falling steeply. If that fall continues, in another couple of decades fossil fuels will no longer be needed for most of their current purposes, since solar will be a less expensive alternative. If so, sustainability does not require us to conserve fossil fuels.

2. A central worry of environmentalists for at least the past sixty years or so has been population increase. If that is going to be the chief threat to the needs of future generations then sustainability requires us to keep population growth down, as many have argued.

A current worry in developed countries is population collapse, birth rates in many of them being now well below replacement. With the economic development of large parts of the third world, that problem might well spread to them. If so, sustainability requires us to keep population growth up, to protect future generations from the dangers of population collapse and the associated aging of their populations.

It's easy enough to think of other examples. Generalizing the point, "sustainability" becomes an argument against whatever policies one disapproves of, in favor of whatever policies one approves of…

L’ università dove insegna David ha incaricato i professori di dedicare un’ ora di lezione per omaggiare questo concetto sensibilizzando la platea. Lui ha richiesto alle autorità accademiche di poter parlare “contro” una nozione tanto confusa. Purtroppo non in tutte le università ci sono professori così; non in tutte le Università si è in grado di infrangere la magia ipnotica di certi balletti retorici.

Se proprio si vuole ballare, lo si faccia seriamente.