Is the Science Settled Enough for Policy?

March 15, 2009 4:02 PM

A great lecture on global warming given by Professor Stephen Schneider at Stanford University Professor Schneider discusses the pitfalls of presenting scientific ideas on global warming to the public.
posted by nola (13 comments total)

Still watching the thing, but it's fantastic so far. Highly recommended.
posted by potch at 5:02 PM on March 15, 2009

ssshh!
posted by longsleeves at 5:04 PM on March 15, 2009

Oh wow, "Scientist Says Nuclear War Not So Bad". That's awful.
posted by voltairemodern at 5:05 PM on March 15, 2009

Great link, thank you.
posted by longdaysjourney at 5:34 PM on March 15, 2009

I didn't know that there were lots of scientists from developing countries in the IPCC - I think he said there were more now than there are from developed countries? Which is good for getting them on board, if they can have a real say in what's going on.
posted by harriet vane at 6:55 PM on March 15, 2009

The gist of his argument is that climate science cannot predict the future with certainty. Well, nobody can predict the future with certainty. Only economists and fundamentalist preachers claim to do that and look at their track record. Part of educating the public about science is precisely to explain the evidence, the processes and the best bet, not to scare them or claim omniscience. Maybe it is too much to give people some undisputed facts and ask them to think for themselves.
posted by binturong at 7:49 PM on March 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

the best thing about this is how he highlights the fundamental role statistics plays in science, plus the fundamental role that the acknowlegement of uncertainty plays in statistics. if everyone took a college-level course in stats (as i'm doing now, god help me) the world would be a very different place.
posted by klanawa at 10:15 PM on March 15, 2009

The gist of his argument is that climate science cannot predict the future with certainty. Well, nobody can predict the future with certainty.

You clearly didn't listen to the lecture. Your rebuttal to "his argument" is, in fact, his argument.
posted by voltairemodern at 10:25 PM on March 15, 2009

Well, nobody can predict the future with certainty

I find that, of all the predictions I have made, those concerning the future to be the least certain.
posted by DreamerFi at 1:45 AM on March 16, 2009 [2 favorites]

The gist of his argument is that climate science cannot predict the future with certainty. Well, nobody can predict the future with certainty. Only economists and fundamentalist preachers claim to do that and look at their track record. Part of educating the public about science is precisely to explain the evidence, the processes and the best bet, not to scare them or claim omniscience. Maybe it is too much to give people some undisputed facts and ask them to think for themselves.
posted by binturong

You clearly didn't listen to the lecture. Your rebuttal to "his argument" is, in fact, his argument.
posted by voltairemodern

voltairemodern clearly didn't read binturong's post.

Well, I'm guessing he did, but then chose to conveniently edit the argument out of binturong's argument.
posted by fairmettle at 4:19 AM on March 16, 2009

Dang, for some reason they've taken this video down.
posted by gallois at 9:34 AM on March 16, 2009

It's still up for me gallois.
posted by nola at 3:47 PM on March 16, 2009

MIT Scientist: Republicans Misusing My Climate Change Paper

Republicans: We Stand By Our Distortion of MIT Study
posted by homunculus at 4:12 PM on April 2, 2009