Does it seem to you that global warming deniers think scientists are stupid?
I was just looking back through some of the questions I'd previously answered, and it seemed like every denier questioner picked a denier answer who said something like "we don't know what caused past climate changes/scientists can't predict the future/Al Gore is a big poopy head/etc."
This seems bizarre to me, because climate scientists tell us they have a good idea what caused past climate changes, that they can project what will happen in the future under certain scenarios, that they don't care about Al Gore, etc.
When they're not busy blabbering about how the Sun makes us warm, it seems like most denier answers are basically "we don't know anything".
Do you think the deniers think scientists are stupid? Or just that climate scientists are stupid, perhaps? I mean if the climate scientists are saying they understand something and the deniers are saying they don't...to me that suggests they're stupid or delusional. Or perhaps when the deniers say "we don't understand" they mean "I don't understand"?
What's your take on this?
Ken2008-08-01T16:41:47Z
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The only feasible explanation for those doubters (not all of them, fit this bill) who hold such a low view of scientists (inferring either incompetence or intentional deception for monetary gain) are:
1) They are completely ignorant of science and the process of modern science (including the checks and balances provided in the world of peer reviewed scientific journals and conferences.
2) They themselves are unethical people who'd lie, cheat, or steel for personal gain, thus they conclude everyone else must be like that.
3) The Dunning-Kruger effect.
It's one thing to criticize popular media articles, op-ed pieces, personal blogs, or answers on Yahoo. It's quite another thing for laymen to dismiss, without any evidence, countless peer reviewed articles in respected journals that are well received by other experts in the field.
My take, Dana, with all honesty, is that you are not critical enough of the other scientists in your field and their theory. You must know that there is nothing wrong with denying a theory that observations don't support (AGW).
You are too trusting of the theory and I sometimes wonder why you don't see that temperature today is nothing out of the ordinary, and that radical wild variation in climate is perfectly natural.
I don't think scientists are stupid, in fact, quite the opposite. I think very smart people are capable of coming up with good reasons to support BAD theories, ESPECIALLY if certain outcomes mean that the funding of their research and jobs will continue.
The data really, really, really does NOT support a crisis at all. In a previous post you made clear that you EXPECT ever increasing disaster (food & water shortages, etc.)
I really think you should keep an open mind to what John Cristy and others are saying.
Well... I'm a scientist by Oregon petition standards (I have a BS in biology). I suspect several, possibly many others are similarly qualified. And the patient explanations may not change the minds of the denialists, but they at least hopefully convince any confused children who wander by to lazyweb their homework.
I don't believe they think the scientists are stupid, they think the scientists are corrupt and are following a secret agenda, to enable the government to impose "green" taxes or to massage Al Gore's ego, something like that!
They think that people like me are stupid for falling for it!