Saturday, August 11, 2007

Provocations on climate from Freeman Dyson

Always stimulating and worthwhile, Freeman Dyson's latest essay from the Edge disputes what he takes for received wisdom about climate change. Years of gratitude for Dyson's writing on scientific matters prompts me to post this: "...When I listen to the public debates about climate change, I am impressed by the enormous gaps in our knowledge, the sparseness of our observations and the superficiality of our theories. Many of the basic processes of planetary ecology are poorly understood. They must be better understood before we can reach an accurate diagnosis of the present condition of our planet. When we are trying to take care of a planet, just as when we are taking care of a human patient, diseases must be diagnosed before they can be cured. We need to observe and measure what is going on in the biosphere, rather than relying on computer models...."

Read the whole thing, even if you don't agree.

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