Memes symmetric in M/R - "Science"

By Wayne Brown

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A Challenge to the "Settled Science" Meme

By Wayne Brown
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I've read at least a dozen books on the climate issue in the last month. This is the best. Koonin is not just another "skeptic." His approach to the matter rises above "controversy" and depends on evidence. Yet, he acknowledges where the panic is coming from. A lecture by Koonin covers much of the key material and provides color versions of the slides, which are black and white in the book. Another interview, without the slides, is here . In reading IPCC reports, it's evident that the "summaries" don't "summarize" the actual science. The ultimate summary, the speech by the head of the IPCC , bristles with inaccuracies and has no message beyond panic. As a senior climate scientist, Koonin provides some startling stories of the "blow-back" he gets by simply asking for an independent review of IPCC conclusions. In fact, there was a brief attempt to cripple such a review by denying federal funds to any study that challenged t...
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Panic Part 5 - Apocalypse Never

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  Everyone agrees the Polar Bears are doing OK More or Less Armed with our new tools and a big bag of facts, we can read Shellenburger's well-written and entertaining "take" on Climate Change. His opening chapter provides an excellent account of the current state of climate panic.  Then he gets down to his case, which is like Lomborg's warning about how our attempts to "fix" climate change may actually harm the people we are trying to help. Much of his writing is based on his experience in the Congo. He makes the totally valid point that extremely poor people in the Congo rely on wood for fuel: Ninety-eight percent of people in eastern Congo rely on wood and charcoal as their primary energy for cooking. In the Congo as a whole, nine out of ten of its nearly ninety-two million people do, while just one out of five has any access to electricity.44, 45 The entire country relies on just 1,500 megawatts of electricity, which is about as much as a city of one mill...
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The Dragon Ecosystem - Extractivist Corporations - Money and Information-- Stranded reserves

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Corporate Dragons consume material resources and produce waste just like biological beings. They also exist in their own world, consuming and emitting money and information. Money is really just a *kind* of information as can be seen if everyone suddenly thinks a resource companies ("extractivist") reserves are "stranded". This has an immediate effect on the balance sheet and (therefore) the value of shares. Shareholders take an immediate "hit" without any offset appearing anywhere except as a corporate "write down" (and "expense") but the money is gone . For this reason, there are strong incentives for the company to minimize or hide information that would lead the public (shareholders in particular) to believe resources are stranded. Simply confusing the issue (misinformation) on Climate Change and the need to "leave it in the ground" translates into real shareholder value. The reverse is also true. Shareholders hope that a ...
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