Thanks, Tom.
My question this morning was less about the science and more about the attitudes of the people around the table about The Science. When, and under what circumstances, do these folks, who will defend science against any humanist, decide to ignore The Science. I was hoping for some staking out of the ground. As an example, I offered situations in which The Science has little to offer, so a patient has a lot to gain and little to lose from a quack cure Hywel seemed to offer the suggestion that we feel qualified to doubt science whenever we detect strong interests favoring one conclusion or another operating on the scientists themselves. (But that argument seems to “divide out”, because there are strong interests always impinging on both sides of any scientific decision having to do with social or political policy. . Another case I offered was the scientific consensus on fats and heart disease, which is only now starting to break down. Penny disregarded it for 30 years. I negligently observed it. Why did we feel qualified to be so blaze about what the “best minds of our time” seemed to agree upon. This is an important question to me because of my dyed in the wool pragmatism, which leads me to think that whatever doubts I might have about science, it’s the best we have!. How can I insist that my neighbor not oppose attempts to deal with the human causes of global warming, when I know darn well that I will ignore a scientific consensus, whenever I have a mind to.
Looking forward to seeing you on Monday. When I forwarded your meeting proposal to Rachel
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Tom Johnson
Sent: Friday, October 02, 2015 10:41 PM
To: Friam@redfish. com <[hidden email]>
Subject: [FRIAM] Climate brokers gather best data for policy making - The Western Producer
Follow on to this morning's discussion of climate change.
http://www.producer.com/2015/10/climate-brokers-gather-best-data-for-policy-making/
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Tom Johnson - Inst. for Analytic Journalism
Santa Fe, NM
SPJ Region 9 Director
[hidden email] 505-473-9646
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