DIY Climate Change

Speaker:
Vaughan Pratt Stanford University Computer Science Department 2215 Old Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304
Date:
Tuesday, 15 Feb 2011 (all day)
Venue:
AG-66 (Lecture Theatre)
Category:
Abstract
Climate skeptics today treat climate science and policies derived therefrom as a global conspiracy with the goal of fleecing the non-conspirators, namely the skeptics. The basic objection to the conspiracy is that it is founded on false science. Since this fleecing seems an increasingly likely outcome, it is worth examining its logic. First, if the conspirators end up greatly outnumbering the skeptics then the net proceeds of the conspiracy will be minimal. Second, if the public can easily see for itself that the science is actually not false, then the skeptics are allowing themselves to be fleeced for no good reason. This talk focuses on DIY climate change, defined as what anyone with a high school background in physics and a modicum of common sense can easily see for themselves is happening to the climate today without having to rely on the pronouncements and impenetrably complex models of the climate science community.