Objectivist Round-Up 30

Objectivist Round-Up #30

Welcome everybody to this week’s Objectivist Round-Up. This is my first time hosting this carnival and it’s a privilege to give Rational Jenn a well-deserved rest for a week!

Here are the accepted submissions for this week, in no particular order:

RationalJenn wants to know which states are currently complying?, and says…

“Somehow, this whole thing snuck past me when it went through Congress nearly 3 years ago. It looks as if the Feds are going to come down hard on states that refuse to comply fully with the federal “security” guidelines for the issuance of state ids. Not only that, I fail to see how on earth this will protect me from Bad Guys. But I see quite clearly how much information our federal government will have about me and everyone else who wants to drive a car or ride in an airplane.”

Nicholas Provenzo at The Rule of Reason tells us Why Boycotting Berkeley is Important.

Stella Daily at Reason Pharma reckons it Would be Cheaper if You Were Dead!

Gus Van Horn presents Heartland on VanDamme

Evanescent exposes the Nihilism of Subjectivism.

That’s all for now! The next round-up is over at The Crucible & Column, where the theme will be “Best of 2007!” You can submit your articles here.

 

Open Thread: Anthropogenic Global Warming

Ok I need help.

Why is there so much controversy over climate change, and what are the facts?

There is so much debate between legitimate scientists, I have become very sceptical when reading anything that puts forward a strong opinion, either way, on human effects on global warming.  I find I am increasing unable to take either side very seriously anymore.

Note: I am not denying global warming at all.  My question is this:

Does human activity add significantly to global warming?

The Royal Society seems to think so.  This is the leading scientific authority in Britain that, in a peer-reviewed analysis, claims that humans are contributing significantly to global warming:

http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=4761

Yet, why have 19,000 American scientists signed a petition stating that this is not the case, and produced a comprehensive analysis of the trends of global temperature against industrial activity (and found no correlation):

http://www.oism.org/pproject/

Why have JunkScience.com offered $125,000 (as yet unclaimed) to anyone who can scientifically prove that humans are causing global warming:

http://ultimateglobalwarmingchallenge.com/

 

Bloggers that I share very many opinions with, believe in Anthropogenic Global Warming:

http://www.blacksunjournal.com/climate-change-facts/

And bloggers who I often agree with and respect a lot reject AGW:

http://ergosum.wordpress.com/category/environmentalism/

 

Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” has become very popular in advertising man’s putative effects on the planet.  But, when the film is replete with lies and distortions, I’m more inclined to think of it as something akin to creationist propaganda and politicking, than credible science.  You see, if the facts of mankind causing damage were that self-evident, why would so many people on both sides need to lie and attempt to deceive others about the evidence?

I am trying to keep my sanity here, so can someone tell me why there is even a debate?  Scientists don’t argue over the fact of gravity, or evolution, or heliocentrism etc?  In fact, scientists aren’t even debating that global warming is occurring.  The debate is whether it can be proven beyond reasonable doubt that man’s industrial activities are the primary cause.

As a rational thinker, I must go wherever the evidence leads.  However, I have no intention of getting swept up in purely political debates or emotionalism.  In other words, let’s propose for the purposes of this discussion that I don’t actually care if we are harming the environment or not.  I just want to know if we actually are.  At this moment in time, the only reasonable position I can take is one of agnosticism toward AGW, which means, I won’t accept it unless the evidence convinces me.  That is, I’m going to assume there’s not a problem unless someone can prove to me that there definitely is.  Call this naive if you will, but please be assured my only interest is the truth.

To any commenter’s: I will play Devil’s Advocate both ways; don’t take it personally!  ;)  Who knows, by the end of this thread I will have reached a conclusion!…