Written By: David Deming
There are two problems with Al Gore. First, he’s a demagogue who lacks an appreciation for the ethics and methods of science. Second, he’s a not a scientist, but a celebrity and politician who does not understand the technical aspects of science. Put succinctly, the man simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But Gore is now advising the world on complex technical issues related to energy and climate. That’s a problem for the human race.
Al Gore refuses to debate his critics. He has repeatedly dodged a debate with Christopher Monckton. Instead of engaging skeptics in reasoned discussions, Gore has relentlessly demonized those who disagree with him. In a series of infamous character assassinations, he has stated that people who are skeptical of the hysterical global warming scenario he has been promoting (and profiting from) are comparable to the lunatic fringe who believe that the Apollo Moon landings were filmed on a movie stage. He has also compared global warming skeptics to people who believe that the Earth is flat.
Scientific issues like climate change are not morality plays. Scientists are objective and tentative. To be a scientist is to be skeptical. Science is never “settled” because there can be no finality in any empirical system of knowledge. Only God has all the data. Scientists employ multiple working hypotheses. They work together cooperatively, eager to have their mistakes pointed out to them, so as to advance a disinterested search for truth.
One of the finest examples of this ethic is found in a letter written by Robert Hooke to Isaac Newton on January 20, 1676. Hooke told Newton, “I have a mind very desirous of and very ready to embrace any truth that shall be discovered though it may much thwart and contradict any opinions or notions I have formerly embraced.” Why was Hooke eager to have his errors pointed out? Because, he explained, “my aim is the discovery of truth,” therefore “I can endure to hear objections.”
But Al Gore can endure no objections. His aim is not to find truth, but to tendentiously assemble and present information so as to mislead. An example of Gore’s dissembling is found in the film An Inconvenient Truth. One of the most memorable scenes in An Inconvenient Truth is the unveiling of a startling graph that shows a strong correlation between carbon dioxide and temperature over the last several hundred thousand years. Gore then states that “when there’s more carbon dioxide, the temperature gets warmer.” Because the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now relatively high, the audience is led to believe that a drastic rise in global temperature is imminent.
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