Climate Professor Richard Lindzen, PhD, talks about science

A golden oldie found in my files -- the quotes are from near the end of the paper:

Climate Science: Is it Currently Designed to Answer Questions?

By MIT Professor Richard S. Lindzen, PhD

From a paper prepared for a meeting sponsored by Euresis (Associazone per la promozione e la diffusione della cultura e del lavoro scientifico) and the Templeton Foundation on Creativity and Creative Inspiration in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering: Developing a Vision for the Future. 

The meeting was held in San Marino from 29-31 August 2008. 

"Although society is undoubtedly aware of the imperfections of science, it has rarely encountered a situation such as the current global warming hysteria where institutional science has so thoroughly committed itself to policies which call for massive sacrifices in well being world wide. 

Past scientific errors did not lead the public to discard the view that science on the whole was a valuable effort.

However, the extraordinarily shallow basis for the commitment to climate catastrophe, and the widespread tendency of scientists to use unscientific means to arouse the public’s concerns, is becoming increasingly evident, and the result could be a reversal of the trust that arose from the triumphs of science and technology during the World War II period.

Further, the reliance by the scientific community on fear as a basis for support, may, indeed, have severely degraded the ability of science to usefully address problems that need addressing." 

... "In the US, where global warming has become enmeshed in partisan politics, there is a natural opposition to exploitation which is not specifically based on science itself. 

However, the restoration of the traditional scientific paradigm will call for more serious efforts. 

Such changes are unlikely to come from any fiat. 

Nor is it likely to be implemented by the large science bureaucracies that have helped create the problem in the first place. 

A potentially effective approach would be to change the incentive structure of science. 

The current support mechanisms for science is one where the solution of a scientific problem is rewarded by ending (financial) support.

This hardly encourages the solution of problems or the search for actual answers."

... "One ought not underestimate the institutional resistance to such changes, but the alternatives are proving to be much worse."

... "I fear that ignoring such things (these problems) will hardly constitute a solution, and a solution may be necessary for the sake of the scientific enterprise."


Full Lindzen paper here:

https://www.globalresearch.ca/climate-science-is-it-currently-designed-to-answer-questions/16330