Stellen wir uns einmal vor, der seit etwa 30 Jahren zu beobachtende Trend der Erderwärmung käme tatsächlich zum Stillstand. Oder besser noch, es käme zu einer mehrjährigen Abkühlung. Nicht sehr wahrscheinlich, werden jetzt viele Leser sagen. OK. Aber was wäre wenn die Hypothese vom “menschgemachten Klimawandel” falsifiziert würde? Welche Folgen hätte ein unerwarteter Klimawandel in die entgegengesetzte Richtung auf das Ansehen und die Stellung der Wissenschaften in der Gesellschaft? Dieser hypothetischen Frage geht dieser Blogbeitrag nach:

Thousands of scientists, a majority of the world’s governments, newspapers, and average citizen’s are warning about the danger of global warming.  In some circles, you’re compared to a Nazi for claiming the issue isn’t settled (global warming deniers are supposed to be like Holocaust deniers).  Barack Obama, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton are all in the tank for global warming. They say it’s coming, it’s real, and something has to be done about it. But what if it’s not true? 

A lot of people put a lot of faith in the belief that global warming is real.  If it isn’t, then the world’s biggest game of crying wolf has just embarrassed the “scientific community ” and their vaunted consensus.  What good are they, if they’re all wrong? Real scientists, who understand scientific theory, wouldn’t have a problem.  Science is a constantly evolving field.  As we learn more, we change our views.  Even Einstein and Newton were wrong in some respects, but those errors were built on and corrected.  When scientists lose their objectivity, and are revealed as shallow partisans grasping for research dollars with little respect for the truth, science and its reputation suffers.