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Old 05-07-2010, 07:23 PM   #1
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Default Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

It's pretty obvious that science is a pretty lame thing to politicize. You may score some cheap short term points, but in the end facts are facts and you just wind up looking like an idiot. 255 members of the US National Academy of Sciences are politely trying to remind people of this fact.

And it sounds like they had PF13 in mind when they wrote this letter.

Quote:
All citizens should understand some basic scientific facts. There is always some uncertainty associated with scientific conclusions; science never absolutely proves anything....Scientific conclusions derive from an understanding of basic laws supported by laboratory experiments, observations of nature, and mathematical and computer modeling. Like all human beings, scientists make mistakes, but the scientific process is designed to find and correct them.
Quote:
We also call for an end to McCarthy-like threats of criminal prosecution against our colleagues based on innuendo and guilt by association, the harassment of scientists by politicians seeking distractions to avoid taking action, and the outright lies being spread about them. Society has two choices: We can ignore the science and hide our heads in the sand and hope we are lucky, or we can act in the public interest to reduce the threat of global climate change quickly and substantively. The good news is that smart and effective actions are possible. But delay must not be an option.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/328/5979/689

Last edited by apple strudel; 05-07-2010 at 07:24 PM..
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Old 05-07-2010, 07:39 PM   #2
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Default Re: Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

Eh, they're just a bunch of elitists... think they know more just because they're educated and make livings studying this stuff...
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Old 05-07-2010, 08:52 PM   #3
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Default Re: Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

MMGW says hello.
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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
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Old 05-08-2010, 06:17 AM   #4
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Default Re: Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

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Originally Posted by Real World View Post
MMGW says hello.
(i) The planet is warming due to increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere. A snowy winter in Washington does not alter this fact.
(ii) Most of the increase in the concentration of these gases over the last century is due to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
(iii) Natural causes always play a role in changing Earth's climate, but are now being overwhelmed by human-induced changes.
(iv) Warming the planet will cause many other climatic patterns to change at speeds unprecedented in modern times, including increasing rates of sea-level rise and alterations in the hydrologic cycle. Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide are making the oceans more acidic.
(v) The combination of these complex climate changes threatens coastal communities and cities, our food and water supplies, marine and freshwater ecosystems, forests, high mountain environments, and far more.
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Old 05-08-2010, 09:01 AM   #5
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Default Re: Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

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Originally Posted by apple strudel View Post
(i) The planet is warming due to increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere. A snowy winter in Washington does not alter this fact.
(ii) Most of the increase in the concentration of these gases over the last century is due to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
(iii) Natural causes always play a role in changing Earth's climate, but are now being overwhelmed by human-induced changes.
(iv) Warming the planet will cause many other climatic patterns to change at speeds unprecedented in modern times, including increasing rates of sea-level rise and alterations in the hydrologic cycle. Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide are making the oceans more acidic.
(v) The combination of these complex climate changes threatens coastal communities and cities, our food and water supplies, marine and freshwater ecosystems, forests, high mountain environments, and far more.
Forget it. You're banging your head against the wall using such big words and complex processes. People don't like that. In fact they hate it. Give them a TV, some Ring-Dings and a big-ass SUV and they're all set.

No one who doesn't "believe in" human impacts on the environment like the alteration of the atmosphere is going to be convinced otherwise until the Keys are under water and palm trees grow in Michigan. Anything short of that is "liberal clap-trap". Same goes for evolution in the 1930's and human space flight in 1900.

You might as well try to convince the Pope that he's straight.
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Old 05-08-2010, 09:07 AM   #6
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Default Re: Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

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Originally Posted by wistahpatsfan View Post
Forget it. You're banging your head against the wall using such big words and complex processes. People don't like that. In fact they hate it. Give them a TV, some Ring-Dings and a big-ass SUV and they're all set.

No one who doesn't "believe in" human impacts on the environment like the alteration of the atmosphere is going to be convinced otherwise until the Keys are under water and palm trees grow in Michigan. Anything short of that is "liberal clap-trap". Same goes for evolution in the 1930's and human space flight in 1900.

You might as well try to convince the Pope that he's straight.
Well said Whista, I love that kind of talk........
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Old 05-08-2010, 09:15 AM   #7
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Default Re: Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

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Originally Posted by wistahpatsfan View Post
Forget it. You're banging your head against the wall using such big words and complex processes. People don't like that. In fact they hate it. Give them a TV, some Ring-Dings and a big-ass SUV and they're all set.
Yes, but take away the ring-dings and the TV - or make them really expensive, because the mountain of debt accumulated will eventually result in a weaker dollar... and/or because they choose to draw the protectionist line at the border, in the case of produce and landscaping services...

...or because oil reserves are a limited resource...

...and things begin to change. First the spasms of anger, infused with "me-first" self-serving resource grabs (eg., tea partiers wanting old people all set and young people uninsured...) then, likely, a backlash, as it dawns on the body politic that it was a lie from the start: we never could afford "the American way of life" which consists of a lifestyle which, were it adopted by everyone on the earth, would destroy civilization in short order. No, we financed it by becoming the world's greatest debtor in history.

Quote:
No one who doesn't "believe in" human impacts on the environment like the alteration of the atmosphere is going to be convinced otherwise until the Keys are under water and palm trees grow in Michigan. Anything short of that is "liberal clap-trap". Same goes for evolution in the 1930's and human space flight in 1900.
"Don't bring up stuff from the distant past like getting man off the ground and flying first through the air then to the moon, the earth's flat and it was all done in studios anyway... also when you take a "plane" it's really a series of motion pictures run against the "windows" you look out at, with holograms projected in the sky around airports to complete the illusion... you really get to other cities by the concentrated prayer of the Civilian Theoportation Corps, but the liberals don't want you to know about that, because you're brainwashed lemmings, I can prove it, once a Liberal had an affair and drank a lot - TADA!"


Quote:
You might as well try to convince the Pope that he's straight.
I must register my offense at this. I have no actual proof that he is either straight or gay by inclination, nor that he prefers partners under or over the age of consent. The only real indication I have is that he favors condoning pedophilia, not whether he prefers pedophilia himself, and not whether he favors homosexual or heterosexual child sex abuse.

We should be fair.

PFnV
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Old 05-08-2010, 09:56 AM   #8
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Default Re: Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

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Originally Posted by PatsFanInVa View Post
...I must register my offense at this. I have no actual proof that he is either straight or gay by inclination, nor that he prefers partners under or over the age of consent. The only real indication I have is that he favors condoning pedophilia, not whether he prefers pedophilia himself, and not whether he favors homosexual or heterosexual child sex abuse.

We should be fair.

PFnV
Good point. My bad. Apologies to gay men for including the Pope in their demographic.
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Old 05-08-2010, 11:05 AM   #9
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Default Re: Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

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Originally Posted by wistahpatsfan View Post
Forget it. You're banging your head against the wall using such big words and complex processes. People don't like that. In fact they hate it. Give them a TV, some Ring-Dings and a big-ass SUV and they're all set.

No one who doesn't "believe in" human impacts on the environment like the alteration of the atmosphere is going to be convinced otherwise until the Keys are under water and palm trees grow in Michigan. Anything short of that is "liberal clap-trap". Same goes for evolution in the 1930's and human space flight in 1900.

You might as well try to convince the Pope that he's straight.
**** you Wistah. I'm no moron. Big words and complex processes. I've got a college degree, and run million dollar projects. Just cuz I'm not a sucker for stupidity, and political driven drivel like you, doesn't make me a moron. You can keep your big words and complex processes, and I'll stick with common sense, the historical facts. As if any of this MMGW BS were about the environment. The environment is something I absolutely believe in protecting. Global taxation, and government, is not. Have a nice day.
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Old 05-08-2010, 12:13 PM   #10
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Default Re: Scientists write an open letter about the politicization of science

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**** you Wistah. I'm no moron. Big words and complex processes. I've got a college degree, and run million dollar projects. Just cuz I'm not a sucker for stupidity, and political driven drivel like you, doesn't make me a moron. You can keep your big words and complex processes, and I'll stick with common sense, the historical facts. As if any of this MMGW BS were about the environment. The environment is something I absolutely believe in protecting. Global taxation, and government, is not. Have a nice day.
Not sure what you mean by ****, but I'm guessing I'm not getting four stars. Nice. Better work on your skin thickness, OK toughguy?

Thanks for making my point.

But keep up the good work, huh? No one gives a rat's ass what size projects you run. No one cares that you have a degree in anything. What does matter is the fact that you and others who resent science will bite at the smallest bit of information that backs up your self-dillusional beliefs. And the opinion of a handful of scientists who have their own agenda's ($$$) means nothing in the face of overwhelming scientific proof that the world's climate -not to mention the levels of toxins and heavy metals in the rest of the environment- is changing because of human activity. Never mind the damage being done to babies' brains and bodies (for all you "pro-lifers out there) from those poisons.

By "global taxation" I suppose you mean that you don't want to pay for the gluttony of American society, right? You don't think Americans should be denied the "right" to consume hugely disproportionate amounts of the world's natural resources because...why?...we deserve it? We have more guns? Our Constitution gives us permission? That's what your concerned about is friggin MONEY?
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