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posted by LaminatorX on Monday February 16 2015, @02:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the Pro-Heat dept.

Justin Gillis reports at the NYT that in the long-running political battles over climate change, the fight about what to call the various factions has been going on for a long time with people who reject the findings of climate science dismissed as “deniers” and “disinformers" and those who accept the science attacked as “alarmists” or “warmistas". The issue has recently taken a new turn, with a public appeal that has garnered 22,000 signatures asking the news media to abandon the most frequently used term for people who question climate science, “skeptic,” and call them “climate deniers” instead. The petition began with Mark B. Boslough, a physicist in New Mexico who grew increasingly annoyed by the term over several years. The phrase is wrong, says Boslough, because “these people do not embrace the scientific method.”

Last year, Boslough wrote a public letter on the issue, "Deniers are not Skeptics." and dozens of scientists and science advocates associated with the committee quickly signed it. According to Boslough real skepticism is summed up by a quote popularized by Carl Sagan, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” "[Senator] Inhofe’s belief that global warming is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” is an extraordinary claim indeed," says Boslough. "He has never been able to provide evidence for this vast alleged conspiracy. That alone should disqualify him from using the title skeptic."

 
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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 16 2015, @03:28AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 16 2015, @03:28AM (#145461)

    Ok so you're only a dev. That's nothing to be ashamed of son! Thank you for knowing science requires repeatable results. This article was going to be the last straw for me with SN; I get antsy even hearing "Climate Science"- these words cannot go together until we have a second, identical earth to experiment on.

    But now I know the Mighty Buzzard, and as I know, then I shall also be known, and thus I will abideth the Soylent.

    Seriously, I appreciate it - I was beginning to wonder.... maybe I'll even sign up for an account and stop ACing it.

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  • (Score: 2, Disagree) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 16 2015, @03:54AM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday February 16 2015, @03:54AM (#145466) Homepage Journal

    Or, as said above you could use the actual earth as control and the models as the experiments. Your issue solved and you know exactly which models are accurate (none of them) or to what degree they're inaccurate.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday February 16 2015, @06:06AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 16 2015, @06:06AM (#145514) Journal

      Or, as said above you could use the actual earth as control and the models as the experiments.

      The models are the hypotheses, not the experiments.
      Nature have a habit to not care a iota about the accuracy or precisions of one's models - and experiments always involve poking nature with a stick, see what is doing (well, except "thought experiment" which usually result in mental situations of undead cats and thermal or other type of daemons).

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 16 2015, @11:18AM

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday February 16 2015, @11:18AM (#145568) Homepage Journal

        Right but we're specifically talking climate prediction here. If you can't accurately and to a known precision do so, you've no business doing so and calling it science.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday February 16 2015, @09:25PM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 16 2015, @09:25PM (#145828) Journal

          No matter what topic or area of science we talk about, please keep in mind the following points :

          1. the scientific method aims to provide a rational explanation for observations of facts in the nature - no matter if those observation are derived from experiments or not (true, repeatability of those facts or observations is a must)
          2. the models/theories/etc are not experiments, they are hypotheses.
          3. science accepts the models/theories/explanations may be wrong, sometime with unknown degree of certainty (Newton was pretty sure his gravity laws where 100% correct). The only certainty the science offers is: if later, we discover facts that contradict the model, we'll improve it or propose another

          Otherwise, I'll suspect you of "cognitive dissonance" when it comes to climate change topic (i.e. strong bias with post-factum rationalization)

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17 2015, @01:22AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17 2015, @01:22AM (#145931)

          I've seen your scripting, why haven't you written a macro to regurgitate your bullshit yet? Even your keyboard is sick of your pointless obstinacy.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 16 2015, @04:13AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 16 2015, @04:13AM (#145473)

    Oh, great, now we are actively attracting deniers?