Posted by
Bill Crawford on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 9:44:38 AM
Al Gore speaking at the Aspen Institute, Thursday, August 4th:
The model they innovated in that effort was transported whole cloth into the climate debate. And some of the exact same people — by name, I can go down a list of their names — are involved in this. And so what do they do? They pay pseudo-scientists, to pretend to be scientists, to put out the message: "This climate thing, it’s nonsense. Man-made CO2 doesn’t trap heat. It may be volcanoes." Bulls--t! "It may be sun spots." Bulls--t! "It’s not getting warmer." Bulls--t!
And there are about 10 other memes that are out there, and when you go and talk to any audience about climate, you hear them washing back at you. The same crap, over and over and over again ... There is no longer a shared reality on an issue like climate even though the very existence of our civilization is threatened. People have no idea! And yet our ability to actually come to a shared reality that emphasizes the best evidence ... It’s no longer acceptable in mixed company, meaning bipartisan company, to use the g*ddamn word "climate."
They have polluted it to the point where we cannot possibly come to an agreement on it.
Al is missing something real simple here. The scientific process is not a "shared" reality. It is reality, or it isn't. You have established truth, or you haven't. And until you do, there is no consensus among scientists. There is no "agreement" until there is scientifically established truth.
When Einstein published his general relativity theories in 1915, the staff at the Cambridge Institute did not take a vote on it. They treated it as theory until four years later, when a timely solar eclipse allowed them to establish that an observed star at it's edge did change position because it's light was bent by the Sun's gravity. Then it was accepted as truth for all of us, until somebody can establish something that supercedes it.
And Al, the established cause and effect of anthropomorphic global warming has not been presented beyond the margin of error. No matter how loud and how forcefully you howl about the "flat earthers" (another Al fave), I am not going to give up on that. The scientific process goes back to before Archimedes, even if you and half a generation of Baby Boomers decide you now have a better way.
Einstein died trying to finalize his grand Unified Field theories, patching together all the forces known in the universe. In his last years, he used to say that he had it, but "it is in my little finger, I can't figure out yet how to get it on a chalkboard". He passed away with it, and we are all still searching. None of the thousands chasing after the elusive Higgs Boson particle are of the thinking that they own the wisdom of the world, they are trying to prove they are on the right path.
So all of you out there who lament the failure to action on global warming: work the process. Make your case. Do the research, and make a scientifically compelling case. All that would help, if you start asking for public money for a solution, don't you think?
At least that's how I was brought up. Absent that, who needs a democracy? The one with the biggest gun wins. Is that what you want? If you talk like you own the truth, and are not able to compel me that you are in possession of it, I have no choice but to think it is.