So much of the debate surrounding climate change seems to hinge on questions of causation. In particular, the two principal causation questions of interest are: Is the anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide the cause of global warming? Is the global warming the cause of the current incidence of extreme or environmentally damaging weather-related events? The …
It is an article of faith: climate change is dangerous. Dare to criticise that view and, as a non scientist, you will be labelled a ‘climate denier’ and a crank. As a scientist, you will also be called a denier and a crank, as well as being ex-communicated, ostracised, hounded, disciplined, humiliated, vilified, cancelled, forced … Continue reading
Ever since I had learnt that I could drop the leading ‘e’ in the word ‘extreme’ and get away with it, I knew that I was one of society’s thrill seekers. It started in the workplace with ‘xtreme programming’ but it wasn’t long before I had taken my adrenalin addiction home with me and I … Continue reading
Whatever skills and expertise are required for that, Michael Gove thinks they are needed in the civil service and in government: That same determination to instil and cultivate deep knowledge should apply across Government. Too much current Civil Service training is about vapid abstractions such as ‘Collaborating Better’ rather than about what works in classroom … Continue reading
On June 30 Michael Shellenberbger’s new book, Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All, will be published. He has a twitter thread full of blurbs by prominent intellectuals like Richard Rhodes, Tom Wigley, Steven Pinker, Jonathan Haidt, Kerry Emanuel and more. He originally intended for it to be about nuclear power, but has “decided to broaden its focus last year in … Continue reading
Time was when a popular history of our modern world would begin: “In Sarajevo, a fatal shot from a Serbian nationalist rang out, killing the Archduke Ferdinand…” Future histories of the 21stcentury will no doubt open with: “In a Wuhan wet market, a bat shat on a pangolin..” No, really. It’s been reported from the … Continue reading
The accelerated warming in West Antarctica (WA) and the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is due to a natural mode of climate change according to a very recently released paper in AAAS. It’s been known for some time that the pronounced warming in WA compared to East Antarctica (EA) was very likely due to a mode of … Continue reading
Lewandowsky has a new article out in Nature Human Behaviour co-authored with Cass Sunstein, [the Artful Nudger] lead author Philipp Lorenz-Spreen, post-doctoral fellow at the Berlin Center for Adaptive Rationality, (no, really) and the Center’s director Ralph Hertwig. Authors Stephan Lewandowsky and Ralph Hertwig thank the Volkswagen Foundation for their support (presumably financial, and not merely automotive.) It’s … Continue reading
In a comment on another post I mentioned this article in which the Observer’s science editor reports on a new piece of insanity published in the Lancet. As so often, the insane nonsense we’re being fed is only revealed for what it is when it’s in a scientific article taken apart by other scientists. It’s … Continue reading
Climate things reach peak craziness in university gender studies departments. To verify this, take a Valium and read on… Sydney University’s vice-chancellor, Michael Spence, is badgering the federal government for research funding to replace the fee losses from what was its pre-COVID 39 per cent international enrolment. I’m sure his university’s medical … Continue reading
Coronavirus: What is the R number and how is it calculated? By James Gallagher Health and science correspondent 18 May 2020 … scientists work backwards. Using data – such as the number of people dying, admitted to hospital or testing positive for the virus – allows you to estimate how easily the virus is spreading. Generally this … Continue reading
