[MD] Global Warming: Science or Politics?

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting Arlo Bensinger <ajb102 at psu.edu>:

> 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. (Referring to Ann Nichole Smith's death) 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".

In this case, "nitpick" is the appropriate description, along with "stretching
it a bit much." It reminds me of the Idealist's assertion that "We can't show the
world exists apart from humans." I simply conclude that when it comes to
ascertaining facts, "as good as it gets" is good enough for me. Let us not
overlook, however, the inherent self-contradiction in the notion that we can
never know for sure about anything, including, one presumes, that notion.
But, I could be wrong.

  


-------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/