On 4/6/2014 5:35 PM, chris peck wrote:
Brent
If 100% of scientists were in agreement about climate change, that fact alone, tells me
nothing about the truth of the claims they actually make.
So does the agreement of physicists at CERN tell you nothing about whether the Higgs boson
exists?
>>You probably didn't test the germ theory of disease or conservation of energy
either.
Yes, and my great great great great great grand parents didn't test the theory that
disease was caused by sin. They knew it was sin because so many experts told them it was.
The superiority of my view over theirs can not be established by an appeal to a
consensus because in this regard me and my ancestors are equivalent. They have their
consensus and I have mine. If I am to convince them I will have an easier time drawing
their attention to the actual science.
How do you know that - did you take someone's word for it? Was it a scientist?
Whenever we're on the verge of a scientific revolution we're usually in a situation
where 99.999% of scientists disagree with what happens to be more accurate.
That's not really true. Of course scientific revolutions start with one or two scientists
- but it's not that case that all the others disagree with the better theory; they just
haven't heard it yet. Look how quickly special relativity, matrix mechanics, Schodinger's
equation, and Dirac's theory of the electron were accepted. Resistance to a new and better
theory arises when there is a lot of investment in old theories.
But to get back to AGW, there was no "old theory". The increase of temperatures due to
CO2 from fossil fuel was predicted over a hundred years ago and everybody who knew
anything about it agreed - UNTIL it appeared to be something we needed to act on. THEN
there were all kinds of wacky alternate 'explanations' proposed.
Those 99% have as much responsibility to show why the 1% are wrong as vica
versa.
Indeed, and they have. Every objection: heat island, cosmic rays, increased insolation,
measurement error, miscalibration of proxies,...has been studied and answered. You
apparently didn't read about Alfred Russell's experience with John Hampden.
Brent
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Everything List" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
