The title for this post comes from a reply to a comment in response to this post by Willis Eschenbach.
As with many people I am familiar with in the blogosphere, I have never met Willis in person. Indeed, I know of him only through his posts at Climate Audit, at WUWT and at Climate Etc.. He has always impressed me with his insight, his candor and his constructive ideas. In short, Willis thinks rather than merely reciting from dogma. Thus, I was very intrigued to get his back story and impressed that he took the time to reply to all the anonymous and sometimes very personal attacks at him personally as a result of his sharing his ideas.
Shaw once said that youth was wasted on the young. I think if he was alive today, he might be tempted to say that education is wasted on academics. An educated mind should be an open mind. It is one of life's most perplexing paradoxes for me that so many academics are closed minded.
Willis puts many in the discussion of climate and environmental change to shame. The dialogue would indeed be that much more engaging and productive if all involved were as sanguine. Having letters after your name does not make you smart, informed nor enlightened. It should, however, confer a requirement for open mindeness and intellectual curiosity. Sadly, it does not.
The difference between theory and practice is greater in practice than in theory...
