Cargo Cult Science produces "Global Crises" on demand

Certain politicians and tin pot dictators have long employed the tried and true method of using crises to keep constituents from "looking behind the curtain".

The most effective method of diverting attention away from how badly things are being run is to find a target menace and make it so terrifying that good sense flies out the window. Uninformed citizens (elites &  masses alike) who get their news from TV instead of real sources blindly follow the government piper over the hill.

A competing nation can be made into a boogeyman to frighten the rubes and get their tax money, but for real control of the citizens, you need a global crisis. This is where the cargo cult scientists like James Hansen come in. They will whip up computer models that will prove whatever a politician needs.

You want a global disaster of apocalyptic proportions? Hansen and his cohorts have a hockey stick generator that will make your hair stand up. Temps are rising! Seas are rising! We're all gonna die in five years!

Unfortunately he will not reveal his source data so other scientists can duplicate his findings. Real science requires that experiments are repeatable.

The UN knows a good thing when they see it so they sponsor the IPCC, their Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to push an agenda that will increase UN influence. After all, the Oil for Food scam is dead, so they need a new reason to exist.

Many scientists in the IPCC disagreed with the slanted reports put out by the UN and they set up the International Conference on Climate Change which counters the junk science coming out of the IPCC. This series of conferences is sponsored by a number of organizations. If you have any curiosity about what is actually happening in terms of climate change, you might start by reading the most recent proceedings.

Richard Feynman's 1974 Commencement address at CalTech provides the definitive definition of Cargo Cult Science. In it he points out the dishonesty of falsely promoting one's research to secure funding.

Only a few years ago, James Hansen was promoting Global Cooling. Now he has switched to a more remunerative prediction. Computer models can "prove" almost anything.

I wonder what the next "global crisis" is in the works?

Maybe they will try to prove water vapor and CO2 are pollutants... Oh, right.

Comments

[GBGames]

Didn't you already post about the "many" scientists (er, wasn't it a handful of scientists and a bunch of conservative politicians, reporters, and corporate sponsors?)? Didn't I already ask for the likelihood of a global, world-wide, almost universal cover-up versus the likelihood of a small, conservative-sponsored initiative to be the one with the junk science?

Which is the crackpot conspiracy theory: that governments are being convinced of spending billions and exerting a lot of effort to slow down the effects of global warming by a consensus of agenda-pushing liars, or that a small group of scientists funded by oil interests and conservatives are liars?

We covered this already, didn't we?
http://www.making-ripples.com/2009/03/global-warming-the-urban-heat-effect.html

[Mouse]

I'm also amazed to read of your continuing ride on the climate change conspiracy theory cart. Even if you turn a blind eye to the evidence all around us, ice-caps and glaciers melting, monsoons failing, frequent, violent, storms etc etc, the basic science that more CO2 in the atmosphere = a greenhouse effect is irrefutable and we HAVE pumped a great deal of CO2 into the air.
I wonder, why ARE you so sceptical?

David says: It is very simple. I read source material and look at actual measurements before they were massaged to fit someone's AGW theory. Follow the links I have listed and decide for yourself.

[Mouse]

I suspect that in the years to come your blog will be listed amongst the "Climate Change Ostriches" if, of course, we still have a planet capable of sustaining human life. Me, I read the books, I pay attention to the warnings and I note, with growing concern, the state of the environment and I firmly believe that we are altering our climate to the point of no return

Tell me, why do you believe that people are constructing a conspiracy theory around this issue? For what purpose?

[David St Lawrence]

I have provided links to many sources which I find credible. There were five in this post alone. If you read them, you will find the answer to your last question.

A growing number of reputable scientists feel that the efforts by Al Gore and James Hansen are politically inspired since they are not supported by scientific observations.

I also tend to watch what a person does as opposed to what he says others should do.

Al Gore has a carbon footprint greater than some small countries. If he thinks there is a crisis, he should be acting like there is one.

Time will tell whether the AGW alarmists are right or not. Since the world is getting steadily colder, they will probably have to change their story again.

I give it five years before they are completely discredited.