[MD] Global Warming: Science or Politics?

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Platt]
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."

[Arlo]
I'm not sure how you got that from what I said, as its something I 
wouldn't say.

[Platt]
I simply conclude that when it comes to ascertaining facts, "as good 
as it gets" is good enough for me.

[Arlo]
My point was that its good enough for us all. It _has_ to be. I 
wanted to clarify, however, that since the dialogue seemed to lean 
back towards accepting the authority of others for "fact" we must 
always leave the door even a teensy bit ajar for healthy skepticism. 
For all pragmatic purposes, of course, we can say "we know" and "we 
are sure", but that should not be confused for absolute, total 
acceptance. Consider it this way, if someone was holding a gun to 
your spouse's head and said, you have to tell me if Anna Nicole is 
dead or not, and if you are wrong I will shoot your spouse, but you 
can, if you wish, spend time to gather more information before giving 
your answer, if it was THAT critical, chances are you'd take the time 
to call the coroner, maybe even fly out and interview medics and 
relatives, possibly even entertain the idea of exhuming the body and 
hiring your own forensic analyst to run DNA testing. The point is 
that the more and more our beliefs are important to us, the more and 
more we move that line from accepting "authority" to personal 
experience (not that we can ever practically abandon it outright).

If that plumber told you your problem was a rusty washer and it'd 
cost you ten cents to fix, you'd likely accept his "authority" on the 
spot, but if that same plumber, with the same "authority" told you 
you needed to tear out all your plumbing and replace everything, with 
an estimated cost of eighteen thousand dollars, I bet you'd get a 
bunch more opinions, maybe even spend some time learning about 
plumbing yourself.

[Platt]
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.

[Arlo]
Why would you want to overlook it? Incompleteness is an aspect of any 
symbolic system.