Consensus or Science?

Over and over we hear and read “Global Warming, Climate Change.” This week the seas are rising, the ice is melting; carbon footprints are slamming down amongst proposed taxes, lifestyle modification and computer chips for cows, chickens, sheep and goats. Science is twisted, reworded into a kind of monster wisdom that can’t be mistaken or challenged because there is a “consensus.”

 Michael Crichton put it this way in a 2003 speech: "Let's be clear: The work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science, consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period."

 The fact is that the latest global warming began about 18,000 years ago, long before man started spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. At that time, thick layers of ice covered much of the Earth. The even bigger picture to keep in mind shows that for several million years, the dominant climate on this planet has been that of ice ages, which last approximately 100,000 years and which are interrupted by far briefer periods of warming, called interglacial periods, lasting for about 15,000 to 20,000 years. The current one in which we humans and other species developed and thrived should last a while longer before the extreme, life-unfriendly deep freeze returns. Warming is what enables and enhances life and is therefore something to be welcomed, not something to be feared.

 There is more to come about this “hot” topic…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tehran, IRAN, July 13, 2009

I first   worked in Iran back in 1974 on a movie project, later teaching in the National Theatre. I didn't leave until the revolution was well under way in November of 1978. I had a unique point of view being one of the very few Americans who worked inside the Shah's government. And during those years I never knew or communicated with any of my countrymen as they were inside their gated, Americanized communities. My friends and co-workers were from all parts of the city, both upper class, diplomats, artists, actors, and ordinary workers and craftsmen, plus all their families. The hospitality of all these Iranians was enormous and heartfelt.   There is so much concern and conflict about the current situation of 2009 that I am compelled to write about what I have seen. This is my own personal experience and memory. I hope my friends will not worry about me as much.     I remember, there was a line across the city; an east-west street named Shah-Reza (now named Enghelab)
Read more

Inside the magic circle

We've talked a lot lately about what compromises a Virtual World. One of the ways is total immersion in a computer created world either as a social type of environment or as a multi-user war or strategy game. Some of the most popular are the online creations, some having hundreds of thousands of members.   If you don't think this virtual world stuff is serious, take a look at this CBS Evening News article: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/31/eveningnews/main1852600.shtml These folks are beyond simple games or entertainment. They're spending real money on property and things that only exist in their chosen virtual world.   Here's a list of most of the worlds by category . There is something for everyone. Or you can get set up and make your own from scratch. http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/info/categories.shtml     Here's a few you can look at real fast. They all are very welcoming and filled with information for newcomers. http://www.v
Read more

The Work of the Writer is a Brain Stretch and Never Truly Finished

The Work of the Writer is a Brain Stretch and Never Truly Finished Pain and gain — two sides of the same coin for a novelist The alarm goes off at 3:50 AM, and I’m up and heading for the coffee maker. While that’s heating and brewing, I’m doing a full set of yoga stretches. Without fail, this routine is followed every morning and has for the last three years. By 4:20 AM The pen is in hand, and what is now the fifteenth notebook is getting some kind of writing. Sometimes stream of consciousness, sometimes a scene for whatever book I’m working on. The learned discipline is to write. It’s an easy shift to the computer keyboard to type a more finished version of the handwritten pages. Somewhere in this process, a Journal page is started and that will collect material throughout the day. I owe this process and discipline to Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way (25th Anniversary). That usually gets me to about 9 and more coffee and breakfast. After that short break, I’m back with more revi
Read more