While its eventual effectiveness is questionable at this time, I really applaud this open letter created and signed by over 200 members of the U.S. National Academy of Scientists recently. I think it strikes exactly the right note in response to the so-called ClimateGate "scandal" and its continuing fallout. The current persecution of climate scientists is sadly reminiscent of attacks in earlier centuries whenever a new discovery clashed with either long held religious beliefs, vested interests or simply popular opinions.
There's such an essential difference between followers of Science and those who always choose to believe what they want to believe: while an individual scientist might, in some circumstances, be resistant to the truth because of issues of pride or reputation, the community that he or she exists within is generally wired to accept new data with open arms in search of the truth. On the other side of the fence are people who band together to push their own agenda, utterly united in their desire to discredit or even cover up anything that threatens to overturn their point of view. How any intelligent member of our species could ever choose the latter perspective over the former confounds me, and yet it clearly continues to be a popular choice, even as we move through the 21st century.
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Change is hard....let's stay with what those books written way back say...like stoning people is OK and the earth is just a few thousand years old.
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