Thursday, July 2, 2009

Bullshit Detector

I found this to be pretty useful all around. If nothing else it is a nice little lecture about being skeptical. I did find one interesting thing. In the beginning when he talks about biased data, he refers to people presenting only data that supports their position. He uses global warming deniers as an example, which is accurate enough, but omits the fact that global warming apologists do pretty much the same thing. In the end when he is listing things that are known to be true he does point out that while he feels global warming is leaning in that direction it is not yet proven. I think that last bit of objectivism gives him some credibility despite his clear bias. Myself I am in the camp that the jury is still out, I have studied the evidence and found it inconclusive, both sides are ideologically driven and that is cluttering up the science. The actual data hasn't conclusively proven anything. I am not ideologically conflicted on this, either way would fit in with my worldview. If global warming is shown to be both a threat and under human control then limiting it would fall under what I consider the legitimate interests of government, and if it is shown to be either not a threat or not under human control then it is not such an interest. I don't think there is yet enough proof to justify extreme measures like cap and trade.

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