Eric Worrall writes: 
The Cabot Institute, University of Bristol has published a full video of Michael Mann’s presentation in Bristol, which Anthony Attended.
I haven’t had a chance to watch the entire presentation yet, but the opening scene shows picture of cooling towers emitting steam – CO2 is transparent to visible light, so it’s a little more difficult to photograph.
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LOL, he has the Dreyfus left eye twitch when he speaks. I guess SteveM gave him that 😀
Michael Mann and others with strong backgrounds in physics, math( and other fields) that cling to a view, despite compelling evidence that, at the very least suggests that you adjust the view, are examples of how cognitive bias, ego and agenda can be so powerful as to overtake a persons ability to see obvious contradictions to their belief system.
This is a condition existing in the psyche of almost all humans which creates a barrier to learning.
When you don’t know something, it’s easy to learn it. Once you think you know something, even if it’s wrong, it’s extraordinarily difficult to reject what you now think you know in order to accept new information that contradicts what you think you know.
The longer you think you know something and the more you have invested(on the line) based on this belief system, the harder it is to see evidence that it’s wrong. In fact, a typical response to contradictory evidence is to seek out additional evidence that confirms what you think you know, which only strengthens your initial belief.
This is consistent with the way almost all human beings think because we grow up conditioned to accept information based on subjective experiences and realities.
However, this is the opposite of the scientific method.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method
“…the opening scene shows picture of cooling towers emitting steam”
Ah…steam, as in “clouds”?
One way that we can tell that a person is suffering from cognitive bias is that their belief system doesn’t have a well defined, predetermined and stated set of criteria that would negate what they think they know.
Instead, they move the goal posts and look for reasons to justify keeping their belief system exactly the same vs adjusting it based on objectively viewing new information.
This was an extremely tedious presentation. I struggled! If I was his boss (he must have one) I would be asking “What does Dr Mann Do!” apart from produce misleading powerpoint displays and totally ignore all the latest climate data from the last 10 years. And where is the MWP in his graph? which turns the hockey stick into a sine wave.
Dr Mann would make an outstanding cherry picker , I am sure he would get the best cherries right from the top of the tree, the ones that had been exposed to lots of sunlight and climate change. But some of the cherries , in tansporting from the tree to the factory, he would alter somehow , using mysterious “Tricks” that change their color, increase their size, decrease their size , turn them into tomatoes or drible them down the road with his hockey stick…………….
“What does Dr Mann Do?”
He brings millions of dollars in grants that pay for his and his boss’ salary. That’s all his boss cares about. That’s the way it is on American college campuses these days.
Mann becomes himself at home of the Piltdown Mann
I just finished viewing Mann’s speech sponsored by the Cabot Institute (@ur momisugly Bristol University).
He is unpersuadable because he shows that he completely believes in the mythology that he created; a mythology where he is a hero. I will try to analyze his speech in comparison to Joseph Campbell’s mono-myth. Will let you know results when I have finished.
Mann’s speech represents anti-Feynman science; see his constant referral to the IPCC as the correct view of climate science.
John
Took The Hockey Mann only one minute to parade his academic bona fides [translation: debate verboten], then the last third was pure self-exculpatory politicking. Were the audience issued protective [….]?
[trimmed, .mod]