<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Who you gonna believe?]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by mtneuman http://www.grist.org/article/who-you-gonna-believe/ Tue, 25 Jan 2005 00:58:57 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/who-you-gonna-believe/1 You Can Believe Whomever You Want to Believe

Anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming is still a theory.  Doubters (skeptics) and supporters (globalwarmers) of anthropogenic global warming believe what they do because each person has a choice - to believe or not to believe - in humans being the cause of today's global warming.  Until one or the other choice is completely eliminated, there will always arguements to the contrary.

Those who are pinning their hopes on things other than human's contribing to rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as the cause of today's global warming have little evidence to show for it.  They have been unable to successfully advance any theory that demonstrates other things in nature are causing the current warming.  The sun is the same old sun, and while it's intensity varies in time, it does not explain the rapid global warming that has occurred in the past 3 days.  The earth hasn't drifted closer to the sun, either.  Except for the rising greenhouse gases (and other pollutants) in the atmosphere, the earth's atmosphere has not changed in the last 3 decades.  

It seems that Michael Crichton's smarty-pants global warming "skeptics" will soon have no choice but to admit their beliefs, too, that today's global warming is being caused by human-related activity, mostly by too much oil, coal and natural gas burning.

]]> You Can Believe Whomever You Want to Believe

Anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming is still a theory.  Doubters (skeptics) and supporters (globalwarmers) of anthropogenic global warming believe what they do because each person has a choice - to believe or not to believe - in humans being the cause of today's global warming.  Until one or the other choice is completely eliminated, there will always arguements to the contrary.

Those who are pinning their hopes on things other than human's contribing to rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as the cause of today's global warming have little evidence to show for it.  They have been unable to successfully advance any theory that demonstrates other things in nature are causing the current warming.  The sun is the same old sun, and while it's intensity varies in time, it does not explain the rapid global warming that has occurred in the past 3 days.  The earth hasn't drifted closer to the sun, either.  Except for the rising greenhouse gases (and other pollutants) in the atmosphere, the earth's atmosphere has not changed in the last 3 decades.  

It seems that Michael Crichton's smarty-pants global warming "skeptics" will soon have no choice but to admit their beliefs, too, that today's global warming is being caused by human-related activity, mostly by too much oil, coal and natural gas burning.

]]> Comment #2 by wallrock http://www.grist.org/article/who-you-gonna-believe/ Tue, 25 Jan 2005 01:52:09 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/who-you-gonna-believe/2 Well Put

Anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming is still a theory.  Doubters (skeptics) and supporters (globalwarmers) of anthropogenic global warming believe what they do because each person has a choice - to believe or not to believe - in humans being the cause of today's global warming.

I couldn't agree more.  While the pundits can hurl statistics at each other to no end, in the end it comes down to beliefs.  And it is not wrong to believe Crichton's arguments, just as it is not wrong to believe in creationism.  Where the problem lies is when individuals or groups try to prop up the theory based on their beliefs as having the same scientific merit as another theory, because a theory is a theory.  Judging someone's beliefs as compared to one's own beliefs will certainly hold biases.  Judging the scientific validity of one theory against another based on the consesus of scientific research will hold much less bias.  Yes, there is no realistic way to completely eliminate the aspect of bias from human thought.  After all, we are only human.  

]]> Well Put

Anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming is still a theory.  Doubters (skeptics) and supporters (globalwarmers) of anthropogenic global warming believe what they do because each person has a choice - to believe or not to believe - in humans being the cause of today's global warming.

I couldn't agree more.  While the pundits can hurl statistics at each other to no end, in the end it comes down to beliefs.  And it is not wrong to believe Crichton's arguments, just as it is not wrong to believe in creationism.  Where the problem lies is when individuals or groups try to prop up the theory based on their beliefs as having the same scientific merit as another theory, because a theory is a theory.  Judging someone's beliefs as compared to one's own beliefs will certainly hold biases.  Judging the scientific validity of one theory against another based on the consesus of scientific research will hold much less bias.  Yes, there is no realistic way to completely eliminate the aspect of bias from human thought.  After all, we are only human.  

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