The ends justify the means (?)

Climategate

Something beautiful is happening in the world right now, but it has nothing to do with climate change. For those of you that don't know, there's quite a fair bit of controversy right now concerning global warming and the Copenhagen climate change conference, because a lot of e-mails of well-known scientists were leaked out that show that the scientists were trying to cover up a rather nasty fact: global warming really doesn't exist.

Regardless of whether this is true or not (it might be dis-disproven again in the future after all) it's sparking all kinds of interesting conversation online. Specifically, people are very interested in why the mass media has not reported on 'climategate' yet, and they're even speculating that Google is being pressured to remove search results related to climategate.

Rather than making this post an extensive commentary on the situation, I thought it was important to point out once more that the internet is all-powerful, and nothing can block the flow of information.

One final note though. Perhaps you've seen the movie (or read the comic) Watchmen, which has an ending that makes you think. I can't help but compare that to the climategate situation. If the scientists are manipulating data in the favor of global warming, they are morally wrong to do so (?), but are they practically wrong as well? After all, thanks to their manipulated data mankind has developed a cleaner way of living, using less natural resources, and we are more aware than ever of what we are doing to the planet. Even if the data was rigged and the planet really doesn't care what we do to it, you can't argue that our way of living has become better (more aware? more smart?). I for one think it's brilliant that the scientists covered this up, because it forces people to rethink their moral stance in life.

Is it ok to lie to people if it's for a good cause? If so, where do we draw the line? This private little moral dillemma can suddenly become a global moral dilemma, which will become an important learning experience for us all.

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