Comments on: What is science?

By: Science isn’t… — This and that

Science isn’t… — This and that — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:20:12 +0000

[...] Science can be fun! [...]

By: Doc Kinne

Doc Kinne — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:41:19 +0000

Spacebull, yes, global warming is science, absolutely! Science – certainly the process – doesn’t have to be necessarily right. Careful observations – science – led to the Aristotle model of the solar system. That model was wrong, but its predictions where correct. Indeed, for some years, IIRC, the Aristotle model made better predictions than the Copernican model. And yet we all know that the Copernican model turned out to be correct.

I am not a fan of Global Warming. Having said that, I’ll also say that I’ve not done a vast amount of study on it. I do know that the long term data says that we are still climbing out of the last ice age. It is SUPPOSED to be getting warmer! (Source: Paleontological Research Institution). The global warming debate during the 1970s revolved around how COLD the Earth would be getting in the future. In the late 1700s/early 1800s – when we really started to accurately gather weather data, in my opinion, we detected a cooling period known as the “Little Ice Age” for example.

Climatology models are so complex and deal with so many variables that I simply don’t the ability to make the predictions that some of these models are making. I see error bars – BIG error bars. Is there an alarming trend upwards in temperatures? Yes, I see that the data says that. What I don’t see is our ability to judge the length of this trend. I see it so little that I’m willing to put my life where the error bars are and move to Boston next year. And I’m not going for beach front property.

Pamela! THIS is why you moved to the midwest! It was global warming, wasn’t it?!

Having said all that, I am willing to keep an open mind, and hope that, as time goes on, the models we have start to converge – and they will – and the error bars start to shorten. But I’m still moving to Boston.

By: Spacebull

Spacebull — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:33:25 +0000

This would be a great link to dispute http://www.junkscience.com. I’m so sick of people saying that global warming isn’t science. Yes, it really is. Observe past and present trends, make theories on why the trends are what they are, and make predictions based on those theories. If your predictions come true, there you go! Science!

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:36:05 +0000

This is the kind of thought provoking and funfilled content that keeps me listening to you and Fraser.

By: Astrogeek

Astrogeek — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 05:59:13 +0000

So… calculating the amount of gunpowder necessary to accelerate the fluffy cat from a cannon through humid sea-level air with sufficient velocity to de-fluffify the cat is science?

( Not that I would ever actually *do* such a thing. Really. Honest. )