Making Up Your Own Science
Why do so many people believe they’re more qualified on the topic of climate change than the climatologists themselves?
Visit Youtube, the editorial page of a newspaper, or even the blogosphere. All over places like these, where opinions can be expressed freely, there are countless people who
1) have little to no scientific training,
2) rely solely on the popular media for information on climate change,
3) are obviously unfamiliar with elementary principles of climatology, such as the Milankovitch cycles, El Nino and La Nina, or the importance of long trend lines in graphical measurements. (Sorry, not all of these sources are that high up on our credibility spectrum, but their citations are great.)
But, most importantly,
4) They seem to believe that their opinion of the forcings and mechanisms of a complex system such as climate, as well as its basis in physics and chemistry, is more noteworthy than the opinions of the professional scientific organizations at the top of our credibility spectrum.
In simpler terms, “It doesn’t matter what the scientists say. I’m smarter than all of them put together.”
Continue reading "Making Up Your Own Science"
Visit Youtube, the editorial page of a newspaper, or even the blogosphere. All over places like these, where opinions can be expressed freely, there are countless people who
1) have little to no scientific training,
2) rely solely on the popular media for information on climate change,
3) are obviously unfamiliar with elementary principles of climatology, such as the Milankovitch cycles, El Nino and La Nina, or the importance of long trend lines in graphical measurements. (Sorry, not all of these sources are that high up on our credibility spectrum, but their citations are great.)
But, most importantly,
4) They seem to believe that their opinion of the forcings and mechanisms of a complex system such as climate, as well as its basis in physics and chemistry, is more noteworthy than the opinions of the professional scientific organizations at the top of our credibility spectrum.
In simpler terms, “It doesn’t matter what the scientists say. I’m smarter than all of them put together.”
Continue reading "Making Up Your Own Science"
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