The other day a colleague asked me whether I believed in climate change. When I told him I didn’t think it was necessary to “believe” in something that is – in theory – provable, I was branded as a Denialist (How do you respond to that? “No, I’m not” “Aha! See?”).
The main problem with climate science is that results can be cherry-picked (and very often are). Any challenges to the methodology used to arrive at a particular set of results are met with much hand-waving, indignant sputtering and dark mutterings about conspiracies. As entertaining as this may be, it does little to advance matters towards a satisfactory conclusion.
The trouble is that very few people possess the knowledge or stamina to wade through the mountains of available data. It’s certainly a whole lot easier to place one’s trust in someone with a PhD and a steely-eyed conviction in their own rightness.
It’s this pseudo-religious aspect to climate science that irritates me the most. I thought the whole point to scientific enquiry was that you didn’t have to take things on faith. If this makes me a hard-boiled sceptic, then so be it. “Open your eyes, man, the proof is all around you!” is not particularly convincing as arguments go.
However, plausibility is largely irrelevant, because one of the very first skills we learn as human beings is how to lie. The ability to concoct convincing stories is an essential survival strategy. Whether you’re trying to deflect parental retribution onto a sibling, or punting a specific agenda, rigid adherence to the facts will probably not work in your favour.
It’s difficult to see the bigger picture when your nose is pressed up against the canvas, but I am hopeful that one day we’ll have unequivocal proof that changes in global temperatures can be directly attributed to Cthulhu’s late-night burrito binges.
Global warming : pfffffft! I’m playing ZombiU to brush up on my zombie apocalypse survival skills. Who knew a North American could swing a cricket bat with such aplomb?
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We don’t have to worry about the zombie apocalypse in South Africa. Brains are in short supply.
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Denialist: Someone who swims across a river in Egypt.
That was of an extremely poor quality. No tip for me.
Climate change or no, I’d like to get away from fossil fuels just so we can tell the entire Middle East region to go fuck themselves. We should stop sucking off that tittie, methinks.
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Sensible, although to be honest, I prefer a more personal approach when telling people to go fuck themselves.
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Should we take Einstein’s theory of relativity on faith? I’ve been wanting to rubbish it for not allowing space travel at warp speeds, but all the physicists seem to be in thrall to the old coot.
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Believe me, you should take nothing on faith.
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Timely that I should read this post today after hosting Lord Monkton at our club last night. He was rather strong with his views about the cherry-picking of data and how researchers tend to ‘adjust’ results to suit their funding needs.
Oh, and he absolutely hates the Greens!
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Me too. Stupid Martians. Coming here, taking our jobs.
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Cats are everywhere these days.. can even be found impersonating graphical appendixes.. Bastards!
on the other hand why is your development proposal being questioned. off with their heads!
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Why? Probably not enough pie charts.
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When asked about my beliefs, i have adopted your tried and true approach to life’s major annoying questions. “Because Fuck You, that’s why…”
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Most people don’t respond well to philosophy.
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Was it a picture of Grumpy Cat? Because i trust Grumpy Cat to tell me the truth about global warming.
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Grumpy cat doesn’t care one way or the other, as long as everybody drowns.
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