The Coracle "sermo liber vita ipsa"

Occasional Holy Man and Luthier Who Offers Stray, Provocative, and Insouciant Thoughts About Religion, Archaeology, Human Foible, Surfing, and Interesting People. Thalassophile. Nemesis of all Celebrities [except for Chuck Norris]. He Lives Vicariously Through Himself. He has a Piece of Paper That Proves He's Laird of Glencoe.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

I Wish Journalists Would Quit Saying "The Science Is Settled"

The only sure thing in the universe is that journalists aren't scientists.  Science is never settled, as any scientist can tell you.  As Richard Feynman once said, "Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty -- some most unsure, some nearly sure, none absolutely certain."

From an Open Letter to CNN:

While you ponder that, and keeping in mind that I did say the answer to your question is in your article and I would get to that, let’s examine the only fact upon which your argument rests, which is that there is a consensus among 97% of scientists.  Well Carol, I read that study.  Did you?  I’m guessing not.  Carol, that study was done by Margaret Zimerman, who sent the survey to 10,257 Earth Scientists.  Of those, 3,146 responded.  Of those, Ms. Zimmerman excluded all but 77.  That fact alone should have your journalistic instincts on high alert.  But it gets worse.
at 5:30 PM
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