Jim Manzi writes:
The email you posted today gets it, I think, precisely right. Though it was not public, I’ve spent an hour in a room with Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus (who seem like great guys) a couple of months ago, and the points of agreement and debate were exactly what your correspondent indicated. In effect, it comes down to a debate about the size of the technology investment (though the numerical difference is huge – like two orders of magnitude huge).
This is a technical debate that boils down to what one thinks of government investments to direct the economy. I am inherently skeptical of them, other than for targeted purposes with clear logic for why only the government can do it, while S&N are much more sanguine about the ability of the government to direct economic resources effectively. The discussion, however, was positive and collegial, involving no accusations of either communism or fascism.
The Dish 