This attitude is why Michael Crichton wrote the essay "Aliens Cause Global Warming"
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/07/09/aliens-cause-global-wa...
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/07/09/aliens-cause-global-wa...
> Nobody says the consensus of scientists agrees that E=mc2. Nobody says the consensus is that the sun is 93 million miles away. It would never occur to anyone to speak that way.
... because there's no significant "skeptic" communities for relativity or geocentrism. Nobody has any vested interest in claiming those theories are false. Theoretical physicists and astronomers aren't constantly asked to defend their positions against fallacious argument after argument, nor have they to fight against a minor but very influential political minority which is on faith completely against them. No Secretary of Interior ever said: "If the troubles from theoretical physicists and geocentrists cannot be solved in the jury box or at the ballot box, perhaps the cartridge box should be used." If you can't see even that, there's no point in arguing.
And then the completely bullshit tangent about how the Nuclear Winter equation is just as goofy as the Drake equation, which just is... just... facepalm. Quick, Crichton, tell me the probability that life on a planet evolves to intelligence. Since, you know, you just argued that it's as well understood and measurable as the reflectivity of dust.
In regards to its line, that scientific knowledge is being perverted by politics... you know that psychological projection thing, when someone sees in others what they can't bear to see in themselves? I'm not usually someone that whips The Freud out that quickly but, damn, Crichton is really in contest for some psychoanalyzing. I mean, he's just argued that climate scientists are wrong, on purely political terms. Literally, he doesn't like the politics they do. Mind numbing.
Oh, but they want to be making policy, not science.
As an aside: I get the feeling from your comment that you might not be aware that Michael Crichton is dead.
How would you take it if people told you: "You're such an alarmist. Shut up, and keep working on your models"
And if scientists shouldn't speak up, who is left in public discourse?
The data is very scary. Seeing the conditions of the distant past makes me not want to repeat them. Before a scientist, I am a human being.
Parent - seriously, what do you want us to do? Sit back, take more data, calculate more models, write some papers that only other scientists read? You, everyone, pays us for doing this, and it's our responsibility to make you listen.
(Now, I'm quite young. My professors seem to have given up, one even said so. I sincerely hope it's not as bad as it looks.)
[1] http://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/29...
You can warn and warn all you like, but if people don't listen, it's because they're free people who have made their own decisions through the political process. The answer is not to scream louder. They heard you, and don't care.
Want to end the debate on global warming? Make it moot. Turn your research into great products and technologies that reduce carbon emissions and are simultaneously what people want.
It's already happening: People are starting to want a Tesla S because it's considered by many to be the best car ever made. They're actually getting customers who don't give a rats ass about the environment, and that's exactly what you're going to need if you really want to save the world.
We don't debate gravity through the political process. We can discuss how to tackle climate change, but that itself is not debatable.
And if they defend it, it's because it's under attack. The industry FUD would have many believe that it's the scientists that have a vested interest.
We don't debate global warming through the political process, nor should we. We debate what we might want to do about global warming through the political process. Your comment indicates you don't see the difference, and that's exactly what I'm worried about.
You're not granted political power simply for being right. Imagine if a new consensus was reached amongst economists that the minimum wage is bad for the economy, and were granted the power to eliminate it. I don't think too many here would be happy about that.
In my experience, all the critics of the science want NO action taken, except more science and R&D. Or even in Canada, the shuttering of scientific projects that could be inconvenient.
A scientist is also a citizen - I don't see where you give away whatever marginal power you have as a member of the public. Everyone can push for the things they value, it's a democracy.
The data points at the sea rising - flat islands without money for dykes will disappear. Models consistently predict changing precipitation patterns - which is ok if you have money to migitate the changes.
I don't want to dismiss your whole comment, you do have a point. I'll happily pay money in subsidies to create a solar industry which can then be copied by everyone. However, as you also say, it's not enough to solve this with science and technology. If we were still in the middle of the last century, it maybe would. It's a political problem now which has to be solved with politics by politicians and citizens, and not by scientists. And as I said in another comment, every citizen has the right to push for his believes to be taken into account.
Even though he was getting a shit wage, he still had to endure those who thought it was people like him, rather than the Exxon and Shells of this world, that had a vested interest.
I've spent way too much time on WUWT. There is very little discussion of science or statistics. It mainly focuses on politics, individuals (Mann, Gore, etc.) and nitpicking over insignificant errors.
Within a few hours topics will range from: climate change isn't happening to it is happening but it's not caused by humans to it's us but it will be beneficial and back again.
Users are banned and occasionally dox'd for contrarian comments on that site, so if you're concerned about 'insulating the brain from inconvenient argument', you shouldn't support WUWT.