Nobel-Prize Winning Physicist Resigns over Global Warming

Introversion said:

Unless you're in denial that those losses will ever occur...

It just seems to be human nature not to look at ugly truths full in the face? How many Jews stayed in Nazi Germany when the warning signs were apparently becoming pretty clear, out of desperate hope that things wouldn't get worse?

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Yep that is very true. It's a flaw in the human mind - finding it hard to face uncomfortable truths and choosing instead to believe what we wish to be true. The more emotionally invested someone is in a particular belief, the harder it is for someone to see that what they believe is incorrect. You see it with all kinds of science and reality deniers - flat Earth, creationism, anti vaxx, etc. Fiddling while Rome burns because you don't want to believe that Rome is burning. Same flaw in thinking. This flaw could well lead to our extinction.

Alessandra Kelley said:

Probably not as many as were stuck with no options because they had been banned from taking any of their wealth with them when they left, while many countries they might have fled to wouldn’t let them come unless they brought money with them.

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That is a good point with that specific example (and I agree with the above), however the mentality of reality denial is a massive problem in today's world. People believing what they want to be true, because the actual truth isn't comfortable for them to accept.

Alessandra Kelley said:

I agree in general. It's just, something about that particular example used as an example of this kind of behavior bothers me a lot.

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Sorry, I chose poorly.

Diana Hignutt said:

Personally, this 8yo thread can be closed.

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The thread you mentioned doesn't show up with climate in the topic title. Do you mean this thread?

https://absolutewrite.com/forums/sh...w-Your-Enemy-The-Late-Stage-Capitalism-Thread

An interesting thing to me, is looking at old threads about climate and comparing what was predicted decades ago with what actually happened.

Diana Hignutt said:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011...-top-physics-group-over-global/#ixzz1Y2M8beNu

It's not science, it's religion. I don't blame him.

Incontrovertible is a word that should be rarely used in science.

I agree with his stance. This isn't about global warming, it's about the subversion of science itself.

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In my experience, internet discussions about climate/global warming are ridiculous, for a simple reason. This is easy to see by the following example, which is about the Nobel prize winner which the thread is about.

https://skepticalscience.com/ivar-giaever-nobel-physicist-climate-pseudoscientist.html

We often see scientists from non-climate fields who believe they have sufficient expertise to understand climate science despite having done minimal research on the subject; William Happer, Fritz Vahrenholt, and Bob Carter, for example. As he admits in his own words, Nobel Prize winning physicist Ivar Giaever fits this mould perfectly:

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In this post we will examine the claims made by Giaever in his talk, and show that his contrarian climate opinions come from a position of extreme ignorance on the subject, as Giaever admits. Giaever personifies the classic stereotype of the physicist who thinks he understands all scientific fields of study:​

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The unknown person who wrote those words is actually exactly what they are complaining about. But they can't ever see it. Which makes an argument with them an exercise in absurdity. This doesn't even touch on the real problem, which is subtle but far more important.

robinson said:

The thread you mentioned doesn't show up with climate in the topic title. Do you mean this thread?

https://absolutewrite.com/forums/sh...w-Your-Enemy-The-Late-Stage-Capitalism-Thread

An interesting thing to me, is looking at old threads about climate and comparing what was predicted decades ago with what actually happened.

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She means this thread. The one you are posting in.

Read the screen dude. The first post is from 2011.

Perhaps the lack of quoting the entire post caused some confusion. When I asked about the other thread, and posted a link to it, it was about this matter.

Diana Hignutt said:

The new thread I started on climate change, Know Your Enemy: The Late-Stage Capitalism Thread, explores climate change through the lens of economics and politics, is available to use for discussion on this topic.

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"The new thread I started on climate change" doesn't contain climate in the title. I posted a link to what I think is the thread mentioned. Obviously this thread was not the thread I asked about.

But as I always have said, words are hard. Understanding somebody else is even harder. As writers we should try and write with clarity and precision, when trying to communicate, rather than entertain. I obviously failed in both regards.