Unfortunately the human brain is not evolved to cope with complexity, and ordinary people find ambiguity deeply uncomfortable. Therefore, most people find it easiest to absorb whatever soundbites they are fed, generally by sensation-mongering journalists and cynical opportunistic politicians. This invariably results in bad policies, but as people have little or no capacity for independent thought, the consequences are not connected by them to the causes. We used to be able to stumble along blindly but now our technologies amplify our cognitive inadequacies by making consequences much greater - and the role of government has expanded so greatly that bad policy impacts every aspect of life.

Sadly, as people will neither become more adequately informed nor more thoughtful, there seems to be no chance of amelioration. The comments this article has received, which merely regurgitate stock soundbites, proves the point. Climate change is worthy of serious thought, but ordinary people merely chant the standard narrative, convinced that this is the "truth" and absolves them from any need to become more adequately informed, which would result in them discovering that things are rather more complex and nuanced and uncertain than the pop news articles they read reveal.