Wednesday, December 16, 2009

burden of proof and the precautionary principle

I have always enjoyed Brian Micklethwait's writing. He has a nice economy of style and a keen insight.  Here is his latest post and take on Climategate.  He links to the Monckton video that challenges the Team to come clean about their deceit and suggests that the burden of proof in the debate on climate is changing.

Others are less convinced.  One primary corollary is the observation that climate alramism and ecomyths are vested in the precautionary principle and not the certitude of their science. 

As I have posted previously, slavish adherence to and reliance upon the precautionary principle is the very lifeblood of ecomyths.  Their zombie-like ability to morph into new parables for the demise of humanity rests on the continued acceptance of the precautionary principle as both reasonable and beneficial.  

The precautionary principle exploits the possible, the "what if?"  angst of cultural fears and societal anxieties: it neither requires nor respects the probabilities of scientific observations.  

The most damning indictment arising from Climategate is the arrogance and conceit of the scientists involved who thought they could control the politics of precaution they embraced.  Little do they realize the speed with which those politics will dispense with them now they are an embarrassment to its cause.

Mind you, nothing seems to be a political embarassment to climate nihilism.