[MD] Global Warming: Science or Politics?

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Platt]
Arlo also said he had no doubt that the report of Ann Nicole Smith's 
death was the truth, i.e., a fact.

[Arlo]
Okay, let's nitpick a bit.

What Arlo should have said is "reasonably certain". There is, if we 
press the issue, always a possibility the whole thing is an elaborate 
hoax. Since I did not see her die, I'm trusting the authority of 
others. Were it ONLY Fox News that reported this, I'd be alert but 
skeptical. When every major media group is reporting it, I'm 
accepting but alert. When a good amount of time passes and nothing to 
disprove the story has come out, I reach a point of "being as certain 
as I can be", keeping in the back of my head that there is a slight 
but undeniable possibility that she was abducted by aliens and is 
living in joyous bliss with Elvis and Jim Morrison. As you yourself 
said, Platt, we have to maintain some degree of skepticism, no matter 
how minute or marginal. Do we have to act on it? No, of course not. 
As that possibility becomes more and more minute, we can act with 
reasonable confidence that its not true. That's about as good as it gets.

So, yes, as Case states, we move towards closer and closer 
approximations, reaching points where for all pragmatic purposes we 
can say "we know", but always hanging onto that sometimes remote 
possibility that "we, in fact, don't".

[Platt]
Finally, I presume most contributors to this site are "smart guys,"

[Arlo]
I prefer "wise guys". At least sometimes *I* feel like Curly.