[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by squirrel

Science generally eventually finds the correct answer....unless inhibited by politicians....

Science frequently finds the correct answer, but sometimes you have to wait for all the current scientists to retire to find it. Assuming the objectivity of scientists and engineers is just another way to make mistakes. Good scientists face reality and change their world-views based on facts, but this isn't always how it works. Everyone should read "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas Kuhn. He shows that major paradigm shifts in science only occur when the current generation of scientists dies and new ones replace them. Anyone who has ever worked on a university campus would also have cause to question the objectivity of the scientific world. Scientists and engineers are humans, and subject to all the irrational personality traits of our species. It's popular on CD to smugly denigrate politicians, but during my brief stint working at a university it was plain to me that the interpersonal relationship among professors pretty much mirrors that of 9-year-olds. I don't see much evidence that scientists have any more integrity than anyone else in the world.

I assume that the truth of global warming will come out in one way or another. If anthropogenic global warming is really a problem, whether we figure it out today or in five years really won't make much difference. It took us thousands of years of population growth and two hundred years of industrial revolution to get here and we won't fix it in one presidential administration. I'm all in favor of letting the current brouhaha settle out and then addressing a problem that is clear, well-understood, and obvious. Right now, global warming strikes me as much more of a political bludgeon (both on the green "the only thing we need is to let 5 billion people die" side, and the "nuke the whales now" position) than scientific truth. The "truth" value of the current science is buried in the noise of the public posturing (both in the governmental and scientific worlds).

And lastly, Rutan is not the only one taking pot shots at climatologists for rigging data. I don't have time to look for it now, but I read a similar essay by a meteorologist. I didn't understand a large part of what I read -- who knew dendrochronology could turn out to be so important? -- but it was pretty interesting.