Mike Hulme – Consensus Science « the Air Vent

The problem is that in areas of science which are seeking to understand the behaviour of large complex systems which can’t be replicated in the lab, it is very hard if not impossible to apply the scientific litmus test of falsification through experimentation. And climate change is one such area of science. We have scientific theory, we have empirical observations. What we haven’t got are lots of different Earths that can be experimented on in controlled conditions. Virtual climates created inside computer models are the best we’ve got.

All of this means that climate scientists frequently have to reach their conclusions on the basis of the partial, and sometimes poorly tested, evidence and models available to them. And when their paymasters – elected (or non-elected) politicians – ask them for advice, as in the case of the IPCC, opinion and belief become essential for interpreting facts and evidence. Or rather, incomplete evidence and models have to be worked on using opinions and beliefs to reach considered judgements about what may be true.

The Reference Frame: Al Gore will endorse Joe Quimby's Czech party

ČSSD [Che-SS-Dee] is a typical irresponsible socialist party which currently has around 30% approval rate and may win the elections in May 2010. Whom do you you expect to come to Prague in March and support this party? Yes, it is the inventor of the Internet and Al Gore Rhythms, Al Gore himself.