Comments on: Why Reason Loses, Part II http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/ Where science collides with life, slams into culture, crashes with politics, and gets totaled. Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:28:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: DeSmog, the BC carbon tax, and biases « Left as an Exercise http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15859 DeSmog, the BC carbon tax, and biases « Left as an Exercise Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:20:04 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15859 [...] on our side — the dearth of public communication skills among scientists is partly Why Reason Loses. (Separate, and worthwhile, [...] [...] on our side — the dearth of public communication skills among scientists is partly Why Reason Loses. (Separate, and worthwhile, [...]

]]> By: Climate Scientists for Better Climate Science Communication–Will it Work? | The Intersection | Discover Magazine http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15293 Climate Scientists for Better Climate Science Communication–Will it Work? | The Intersection | Discover Magazine Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:40:27 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15293 [...] exists. I’ve started to do this in my serious of “Why Reason Loses” posts (here, here, and there will be many more). The underlying cause is equally apparent in the George Will, [...] [...] exists. I’ve started to do this in my serious of “Why Reason Loses” posts (here, here, and there will be many more). The underlying cause is equally apparent in the George Will, [...]

]]> By: Michael Tobis http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15200 Michael Tobis Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:48:53 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15200 This is a very hard thing to measure, yes. Googling: global warming yields no immediate cause for great alarm. However, Googling: global warming consensus is definitely a disturbing experience. The first two hits are reasonable but then you enter an amazingly vast wasteland. The "consensus" idea has been pretty effectively Googlebombed out of existence. This is a very hard thing to measure, yes. Googling: global warming

yields no immediate cause for great alarm.

However, Googling: global warming consensus

is definitely a disturbing experience. The first two hits are reasonable but then you enter an amazingly vast wasteland. The “consensus” idea has been pretty effectively Googlebombed out of existence.

]]> By: Erasmussimo http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15175 Erasmussimo Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:46:03 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15175 This is not in the least worrisome. The Internet is a gathering place for all sorts of people, including conspiracy theories other than the global warming deniers. For example, you can find a great many more stories about 9/11 being an inside job on the Internet than in the mainstream media. The Internet teems with stories about Mr. Obama not being a US citizen, but the mainstream media don't cover that nonsense anymore. If you "Let a thousand flowers bloom" is that you'll also get lots of weeds blooming. Big deal. The people who have already made up their minds will congregate at the denialist blogs. The people who are making up their minds will visit a variety of sites, and they'll quickly figure out the truth. But if you want to see what REALLY matters, check out the Wikipedia article on global warming. You lose, deniers! This is not in the least worrisome. The Internet is a gathering place for all sorts of people, including conspiracy theories other than the global warming deniers. For example, you can find a great many more stories about 9/11 being an inside job on the Internet than in the mainstream media. The Internet teems with stories about Mr. Obama not being a US citizen, but the mainstream media don’t cover that nonsense anymore.

If you “Let a thousand flowers bloom” is that you’ll also get lots of weeds blooming. Big deal. The people who have already made up their minds will congregate at the denialist blogs. The people who are making up their minds will visit a variety of sites, and they’ll quickly figure out the truth.

But if you want to see what REALLY matters, check out the Wikipedia article on global warming. You lose, deniers!

]]> By: Ashutosh http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15150 Ashutosh Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:14:00 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15150 Did Churchill say something to the effect that a democracy was the worst form of government save all the rest I think it's also ascribed to Bertrand Russell Did Churchill say something to the effect that a democracy was the worst form of government save all the rest

I think it’s also ascribed to Bertrand Russell

]]> By: Steve Bloom http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15148 Steve Bloom Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:16:15 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15148 Chris, the key thing to bear in mind with Google News is that they aggregate similar stories, and that if one ignores the aggregation outlier articles will appear to be more frequent than is really the case. That said, we can't really double-check Goddard's subjective assessment, but we can use Google Trends to compare searches for global warming vs. global cooling. <a href="http://www.google.com/trends?q=global+cooling%2Cglobal+warming&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0" rel="nofollow">Not too much to worry about</a>, I'd say. There was an odd increase in searches for global warming a couple of years ago followed by a reduction to prior levels, but global cooling remain very low throughout. A <a href="http://www.google.com/trends?q=global+warming%2Cglobal+warming+hoax%2Cglobal+warming+skeptic&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0" rel="nofollow">comparison</a> of searches for global warming skeptic and global warming hoax doesn't yield much cause for alarm either. So cheer up. Chris, the key thing to bear in mind with Google News is that they aggregate similar stories, and that if one ignores the aggregation outlier articles will appear to be more frequent than is really the case.

That said, we can’t really double-check Goddard’s subjective assessment, but we can use Google Trends to compare searches for global warming vs. global cooling. Not too much to worry about, I’d say. There was an odd increase in searches for global warming a couple of years ago followed by a reduction to prior levels, but global cooling remain very low throughout.

A comparison of searches for global warming skeptic and global warming hoax doesn’t yield much cause for alarm either.

So cheer up.

]]> By: oku http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15138 oku Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:04:05 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15138 Well, these guys manage to give the impression that the globe is cooling, so I wouldn't trust these statistics either. I am subscribed to the same google news alert "global warming" for some time, when I have some time (this may mean never, though) I may try to verify these data. Well, these guys manage to give the impression that the globe is cooling, so I wouldn’t trust these statistics either.

I am subscribed to the same google news alert “global warming” for some time, when I have some time (this may mean never, though) I may try to verify these data.

]]> By: james wheaton http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15135 james wheaton Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:00:55 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15135 Did Churchill say something to the effect that a democracy was the worst form of government save all the rest? Well, here we can see a short-coming of a democracy. A fledgling country like the USA of 1800 can be ruled by a less-than-sufficiently literate electorate and not make much of a global impact. Today, well you can see the potential, and you can be assured most of the electorate is less than sufficiently literate. Obama can put out the right ideas and Pelosi and company can offer up the right legislation, but 100% of the Republicans and enough of the Democrats will stick with their constituents and block anything meaningful. I sure hope I am not right on this one. Did Churchill say something to the effect that a democracy was the worst form of government save all the rest? Well, here we can see a short-coming of a democracy. A fledgling country like the USA of 1800 can be ruled by a less-than-sufficiently literate electorate and not make much of a global impact. Today, well you can see the potential, and you can be assured most of the electorate is less than sufficiently literate. Obama can put out the right ideas and Pelosi and company can offer up the right legislation, but 100% of the Republicans and enough of the Democrats will stick with their constituents and block anything meaningful.

I sure hope I am not right on this one.

]]> By: Billingham http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15134 Billingham Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:16:13 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15134 Google News's formula is evidently more democratic than the United States electoral system, which turned out a remarkably pro-science President and Congress. Google News’s formula is evidently more democratic than the United States electoral system, which turned out a remarkably pro-science President and Congress.

]]> By: QUASAR http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15131 QUASAR Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:22:12 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2009/04/02/why-reason-loses-part-ii/#comment-15131 Reason, logic and doubt are priorities in life! Reason, logic and doubt are priorities in life!

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