Category Archives: Science And Society
Ignorant Appeals To Authority
Where to begin? It doesn’t matter if Steyn has “no scientific credentials;” he’s perfectly capable of both spotting fraud when he sees it, and calling out a fraudulent huckster if he deems it necessary. And while it’s true that science, idealized, is “a matter of fact, not a matter of opinion,” this has no bearing on whether or not Michael Mann committed fraud. We’re not debating whether or not science is a fact-based enterprise; we’re debating whether or not Mann is a fraudulent scientist. Defining science simply has nothing to do with the debate at hand; it’s a definitional reductio combined with an argumentative non sequitur.
But that doesn’t really matter with these people. If they get backed into a difficult corner, they just repeat, by rote, the textbook definition of science; for some reason, this is supposed to absolve their pet favorite scientists of any wrongdoing, even if the scientists’ professional credibility is seriously in question. It just doesn’t make any sense to use such a rhetorical device in such a way, and it makes people look like idiots when they use it: “Hey, that scientist is correct; after all, science is fact-based.”
As I said, this is mostly a left-liberal phenomenon; progressives just love the empty-headed campaign to endlessly repeat “science” until their adversaries give up.
It is quite annoying, at the very least.
The EPA’s Empire Building
How it got in the way of its science.
It’s what happens to politicized bureaucracies.
Cats
A bunch of reasons to have one.
I’m not particularly persuaded by the carbon footprint thing, though.
Climate “Consensus”
Well, partially because it’s being dishonestly rammed down our throats to promote economically harmful policies.
Bob Farquhar
Monte Morin has a great piece on him and the ISEE-3 reboot.
The Great Walls Of The Midwest
Would these stop tornadoes? And would they be worth the money?
Hunter-Gatherers’ Teeth
Did their diet prevent dental caries?
US Temperature History
Has NASA/NOAA been fiddling with it to match expectations rather than reality?
Physicists And Philosophy
Hey, guys, please stop saying dumb things about it.