Get it while the gettin’s good

Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 2:48 pm by Neal

(Hat tip: HR)

We’ve written a lot on global warming, and one of the themes that we’ve highlighted is the problem with “scientific consensus.” Author Michael Crichton wrote this great speech on that very topic. Here’s another essay that presents several examples of how scientific consensus is an easy bandwagon to jump on…until the consensus is proven wrong by one scientist at which point it disappears. Read the essay, A Short History of Scientific Consensus for the examples.

The paper concludes with a poignant observation on how today’s scientist serve political ends much like scientists of old were pawns for religious motivations. The “Chicken Little alarmists” are attempting to enact a political solution before the consensus evaporates. As we say in the South: Best get it while the gettin’s good.

Will a modern day Copernicus, Lavoisier, or Pastuer come along to challenge the consensus view of climate change? It is too early to say. What can be concluded is that in the history of science, consensus has often led to the emergence of a great man who proved the opposite. Just as scientists used to serve religious ends, and dissenters were silenced, today’s scientists serve political ones and heap derision on the relative few who have the temerity to object. It’s a race against time, but not for the planet. The race is to enact favored economic and political policies in the name of climate science before the next great man proves the alarmists wrong.

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