Science is losing credibility because it has been hijacked by a bunch of dilettantes running around yelling "The end is near!" There is a crisis du jour, or at least per decade. Think I'm kidding. Consider this, as reported by the redoubtable Mark Steyn:
"According to the CIA’s analysis, “detrimental global climatic change” threatens “the stability of most nations.” And, alas, for a global phenomenon, Canada will be hardest hit. The entire Dominion from the Arctic to the 49th parallel will be under 150 feet of ice.
Oh, wait. That was the last “scientific consensus” on “climate change,” early seventies version, as reflected in a CIA report from August 1974, which the enterprising author Maurizio Morabito stumbled upon in the British Library the other day. If only the impending ice age had struck as scheduled and Scandinavia was now under a solid block of ice. Instead, the streets of Copenhagen are filled with “activists” protesting global warming, some of whom torch automobiles in the traditional manner of concerned idealists."www.steynonline.com/content/view/2760/
Science is going to have to clean its own house if it doesn't want to become just one more arena for ideological conflict with no credibility with half the populace. There are very real problems out there that need objective scientific analysis and reliable answers for policymakers. Right now, though, it is debatable whether that is the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment