[debate] global warming is b/s? nice hatchet job

[Peter Jukes]

The great thing about the scientific method is that it's testable. New
evidence confounds old hypotheses, and creates new theories, until they are
destroyed in turn by new facts.
So while there is no one eternal objective truth, we can at least
agree on*objective error.
* But that still requires some kind of notion of truth - of something less
prone to error.

Surely we can't abandon all hope of knowledge on climate change and human
impact on it (either way). Descending into pure political relativism gives
the fundamentalists on either side a free rein.

Scepticism, yes. Cynicism, no.

On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 11:08 AM, Alan Light <alanlight at yahoo.com> wrote:

> When I have had the chance to talk to actual scientists who have studied
> glaciers or the climate, they have seemed rather undecided.  They tend to
> decry the ignorance and scientific illiteracy on both sides of this debate.
>
> This is probably because, being actual scientists, they understand that the
> climate is a very complex thing deserving of much more study, and that no
> one is really capable of understanding it at present.
>
> On the one hand, many of the changes suggested by the global warming crowd
> ought to be done anyway for other reasons:  cleaner air and more efficient
> technologies?  Sounds good to me - and they will be useful to us whether the
> earth warms up, cools down, or stays the same.
>
> On the other hand, such changes should probably NOT be done in ways that
> destroy the economy . . . especially when other nations which will have a
> much bigger impact on the climate in the near future (China, India) are not
> going to do anything about it.
>
> There might be one good thing about the global warming controversy,
> however.  There are a lot of people who need to feel that they are doing
> something important, and if they aren't given some relatively harmless cause
> to advocate for and against, they might just be liable to do REAL damage.
> So the global warming debate as a distraction from human tendencies towards
> war and repression might just be a good thing.  It also lets us spot the
> crazy ones.
>
> Let them have their toys.  ;-)
>
>
>
> Alan
>
>
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