For those that have heard about that claimed “97% consensus” on global warming from John Cook and the SkS Kidz, here is a thought from the oldie but goodie department:
Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots. –John Adams 1793
When they get that large, at 97%, they tend to be as laughable as some of the voting results we see in North Korea:
North Korea Election Results – Kim Jong Il wins 100 percent of vote with 99.9 percent turnout
Whether it be a political majority, a social majority, or a synthesized scientific majority, a majority that large almost always tends to come crashing down once the methodology is examined.
This is probably why author John Cook won’t release the full data to Dr. Richard Tol, who is attempting replication.
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Aw, c’mon, folks. 97% seems perfectly reasonable. If it were 99.9% I’d be a tad suspicious.
“wws says: August 20, 2013 at 2:49 pm
Okay SteveC, now that you said that I’ve got to quote those esteemed modern philosophers from the Great White North:”
Hey WWS, 2112 🙂
It doesn’t take 100 scientists to prove me wrong, just one fact will do. – Albert Einstein
“Richards in Vancouver says:
August 20, 2013 at 7:05 pm
Aw, c’mon, folks. 97% seems perfectly reasonable. If it were 99.9% I’d be a tad suspicious.”
Richards a guess is a plausible excuse too, but truthful data data is better!!
Don’t mind the stutter!!
“TonyK says:
August 20, 2013 at 3:34 pm”
Indeed. Models and theories, such as the Earth at the centre and the Sun and all other planets in perfectly concentric circular orbits, even though observations, in particular the orbit of Mars, could not be explained by them.
What is the concensus about?
Is it that 97% of scientists do not believe in thermometer readings?
X Anomaly
“At least our economies are not dependent on climate scientists…….not yet anyway.”
Nope, they’re dependent on economists and they do a really good job, don’t they?
Further to BobM’s Bertrand Russell’s wisdom, In the words of a practical man of politics, Lord Melbourne (1779-1848), Prime Minister at the time of Queen Victoria’s accession:: “What all the wise men promised me has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.”
Plus ca change.
Reblogged this on gottadobetterthanthis and commented:
Worth repeating:
Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots. –John Adams 1793
It’s time for rated comments, guys.
REPLY: Tried it, twice. It was not very popular and there won’t be a third time – Anthony
hmmmm….. seems legit.
I’ve had a theory about why they pick on 97% as a figure all the time for these announcements. The amount of naturally occurring CO2 is 97% as opposed to 3% from man made emissions. Therefore it has a ring of truth and believability to it when they say it to the unwary or uninformed that 97% of scientist agree or that 97% of scientific papers agree. It’s not an unbelievable 100% or 99% but just low enough to gain credibility, but seem almost completely certain.
The IPCC does not need to rely on a consensus to convince us its hypothesis is right. All it need do is cite just one peer-reviewed study that demonstrates carbon dioxide emitted from human activity is causing catastrophic global warming and is the key driver of climate change. That is all. Since the IPCC was set up in late 1988, it has never been able to do that.