by Gotham Dark Knight

Created on: June 20, 2007

Ever heard of Edward Lorenz? Sure you have. Lorenz is the famous American mathematician and meteorologist best known for coining the term, "the butterfly effect." Lorenz, a pioneer in chaos theory, was able to show that minute variations in variables that affect the weather, could alter weather patterns severely, rendering weather prediction to be more art than science.

Next time you hear Al Gore or anyone in his environmental entourage speak out against global warming, kindly remember Edward Lorenz, and then ask yourself, "can science really give a definite answer on an issue whose complexity renders any gathering of data or measurements almost useless?"

If mankind for all his noble efforts cannot accurately predict the weather, can it really put a mathematical model together to predict global warming? Add to that the fact that 97% present of all CO2 released into the atmosphere comes from volcanic eruptions and you begin to see that perhaps the only "inconvenient truth," is the simple fact that science cannot really predict with any degree of certainty mankind's role in global warming.

What we really are left with is a political soap box, which politicians like to climb to campaign for causes near and dear to their hearts. After all, if you genuinely scare the general public into believing that mankind, in all it's arrogant glory, is truly responsible for global warming and the destruction of the planet, you can close down factories, prevent deforestation, and hinder the production of new oil refineries. What better way to gain political clout than to ride on the coattails of scientific ignorance?

Call me cynical if you like, but if I had taken such a myopic view of data and measurements while working on my engineering degree in school, the results would have been catastrophic. At best I would have had enough data for a theory, but I would have been laughed out of a classroom had I reached the erroneous conclusion that all my data pointed to an inconvenient truth.

By the way, I remember another claim once made by Al Gore. The man claimed to have invented the internet . Now he is back saying he knows the truth about global warming. Anyone bothered to check his scientific credentials this time? Surely the man must posses a PHD in earth science? No? What's that? Oh, he is still a politician of sort? Thought so. Next time he tries to convince you that we are responsible for global warming, smile politely and remember Edward Lorenz.

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