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Originally Posted by llamabeast
Okay, I think I understand. Essentially you feel it's peer pressure. That's not entirely unreasonable. There have been strong but wildly incorrect scientific movements in the past.
Of course, until fairly recently peer pressure acted strongly in the other direction - it took some decades to get climate change widely accepted. I suppose probably you're of the opinion that at that stage the evidence was on their side, but now more recently the evidence has swung the other way (against climate change), but inertia and peer pressure have made it difficult to accept the change and so people persist in believing in man-made climate change despite the evidence against them. Is that about right? If not I'm still a bit lost.
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Actually I do not think there was much peer pressure from the 'denier' side ever. There was repression from the Bush administration though, to me that is different from peer pressure. You have to realize that GW is a reletively new phenomena. It was not until the late 80s or even early 90s that anyone was publishing on it, and at that time there was much less (basically zero) research to support any position. It is in many ways a 'boom industry' and for that reason there is money thrown at it, and for that reason you have a certain group who doesn't want off the gravy train. These are the people I detest, because they are not doing science for science sake, they are perpetrating an exaggeration for their own ends. The peer pressure has nothing to do with saving face (though most research scientists are horrible ego maniacs), and everything to do with keeping funding.
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Originally Posted by llamabeast
In case it wasn't clear before, I'm personally strongly in the climate-change-is-serious-and-we-have-to-take-action camp, but this particular aspect of the beliefs of the "other side" has always somewhat mystified me and I'm glad to have it clarified somewhat.
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I am likewise mystified that people consider themselves strongly in that camp. However, I realize from reading the IPCC reports that they do a good job of spinning their case. I also realize that many people seem to think humans can actually control (as opposed to affect) the climate, though that notion is completely daft.
I also do not like the use of the word 'belief'. Indeed 'belief' has no place in science, either you have the evidence or you don't. As soon as people start throwing around 'belief' and 'faith' it's become a personal sort of religion, and this is why to a large extent I remain utterly skeptical of the AGW believers. They also usually don't help their cause when they behave as Omni has been behaving, alot of hostility, but no support for his position. When someone is incredulous at someone elses 'belief' (for lack of a better word atm...) and cannot provide any kind of meaningful argument you have to really wonder what their level of understanding of the theory is (and this is not directed at Omni, this is a personal observation I have made in discussions with several AGW supporters).
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Originally Posted by llamabeast
Incidentally, have you come across Project Steve? I've recently been involved in organising a group of comedians to go to the Edinburgh Fringe next year. The stand-in name I suggested for the project while we were getting organised was "Steve", and it's now stuck, such that we're going to Edinburgh as "Project Steve Productions" (it's going to be an improvised comedy show, you should come!). I was startled to discover that Project Steve was also apparently a project to show that there are more respected scientists called Steve who believe in man-made climate change than there are respected scientists (of any name) who disbelieve in it. Note this is just what my (well-informed) friend told me while we were swimming this morning, so I could have got it wrong.
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Heh, well I'm a pretty far way from Edinburgh, but thanks for the invite
Yes the steve thing had to do with Intelligent Design I believe, out of australia or something like that.