Why? – Is it good?

By Robert Bradley Jr. – February 17, 2022

[Andrew] Dessler says that anyone who argues that science is too uncertain will not argue from a legitimate position…. “[Koonin]”a climate flat land.” (Excerpt from Benjamin Thorp, October 18, 2021).

Is “stupid argument” too harsh? Is he just an old white dude whose vast experience in the halls of power gives him a unique ability to point out the flaws others make? No. (Andrew Dessler, October 14, 2021)

Andrew Dessler, a climatologist at Texas A&M University, would have nothing to do with any criticism of the climate alarm. This activist has complete contempt for those who doubt his intellect and science. “Angry Andy” is sure that climate science has stabilized and dropped everything alarming.

One deep ecologist (nature is optimal and fragile; human intervention cannot be good), Dessler has long concluded that we are headed for (or already in) a climate instability. Therefore, any fair hearing on a less extreme view of the benefits from global warming/CO2 would be a leak in the levee, a leak that could widen and knock. The Gloom Climate Wall.

So abort culture is in full swing in climate science activism. Michael Mann (Dessler’s colleague in hand) put it this way:

All the noise right now from climate change denial machines, bots & trolls, fake ‘debate’ calls, etc. Ignore them all. Deniers are starving for oxygen in the mainstream media, which thankfully no longer supplies them.

Report to block. Don’t join.

Imagine an open-minded young person considering a career in climatology. He or she really wants to probe areas of uncertainty in a different direction with climate feedback physics and with climate models. Seek and expand the frontiers of knowledge according to the highest standards of the scientific method. Show professionalism and respect the views of colleagues and others. Experience politeness and social skills, give and take.

That person is the best Not engage in a profession where an Andrew Dessler or a Michael Mann or a John Holdren would mock and pitch black balls. Remember what Mann speak about Judith Curry in Climategate: “I gave up Judith Curry a while ago. I don’t know what she thinks she’s doing, but it doesn’t help her cause or her professional reputation.“Remove Culture 101.

Steven Koonin

enter Steven E. Koonin, University Professor at New York University. This famous theoretical physicist is the bestselling author of: Uncertainty: What climate science tells us, what doesn’t, and why it matters (In 2021). Having taught theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology for most of his career, Koonin went on to work for BP (new technology) and later as Obama’s Deputy Secretary of Science in the US Department of Energy. In this position, Koonin oversaw work on climate research and energy technology.

Koonin holds a BA in Physics from Caltech and a PhD in Theoretical Physics from MIT. An expert in modeling complexity, Koonin wrote the classic 1985 textbook Computational Physics.

Koonin is the author of 200 peer-reviewed articles in the fields of physics and astrophysics, computational science, energy policy and technology, and climate science, and is the lead author of numerous publications. book-length report, including two studies by the National Academy.

In short, Steve Koonin is a leader in his field and respected by everyone. And, it turns out, he’s honest and at an age and tenure where he can tell the truth to authority.

Dessler’s Smears

This is Dessler on Koonin:

I really hate to ponder about Koonin’s book…. Here are a few thoughts. First, Koonin has a track record of making stupid, one-sided, exaggerated arguments.

Second, his facts are carefully curated to present a particular story. For example, he says that heat waves in the US in the 1930s were more severe than they are today. OK, but the United States occupies 2% of the planet’s surface. Globally, heat waves are more intense today.

In addition, his belief in modeling is quite selective. We can’t trust climate models – climate is too complicated!! – but we can have 100% confidence in irrational economic models of GDP growth.

And:

It’s important to realize that virtually all experts in the region are convinced by the data that humans are ~100% responsible for modern warming. So you can trust Koonin or you can trust 99.9% of scientists.

And:

Koonin’s arguments are 1) picking factors and 2) value judgments about his interpretation of the data and his interpretation of risk. His views on the data disagree with virtually all scientific expert opinions. His risk assessment is based on his values.

And:

I don’t usually believe in conspiracy theories, but the fact that Steve Koonin continues to receive high endorsements for his stupid arguments suggests that some powerful media personnel have decided that he is their best option to try to cast doubt on climate science. Think?

Dessler likes to use other words against Koonin’s views such as “stupid complaint” and “refuse disturbance. “

Andrew Dessler confuses himself, his department and his university a lot with such things. Why?

Part of it belongs to Dessler reliability that science has reached certainty about what is known and unknown. There is no gray on the very pessimistic, alarming black-and-white conclusion: humanity is on the way to extinction.

So investing is super emotional. Anything less than alarming – even by a certified little by little scientist like himself – and Dessler must turn to emotion and anger.

The second is outdated jealous. Koonin’s Unstable – with Sales in excess of 100,000–Soldier than all of Dessler’s books combined. Koonin, moreover, had a reputation that Dessler did not have. And Koonin is the target of a lot of organizations that are trying to cut a lot of the science of politicization.

Surprisingly, Andrew Dessler wouldn’t dare argue about Koonin at Texas A&M. (I have offered to organize such a campus-wide event but to no avail.) The climate warning, arguing a speculative view, cannot escape much with the lights on. [1]

Addendum: Wrong again?

On Koonin’s Key Points Against Sedentary, Alarming Climate Science, Dessler Statuses:

I don’t see that these are the kinds of arguments that attract the public anymore…. Most people, they look out their window and they can see climate change is real. Given the fact that what is happening is exactly what scientists predicted decades ago. I think people understand that climate science is real, as described by the scientific community.

Really? Is this a settled fact, Professor Dessler?

In fact, it’s time to panic for climate alarmism in political and intellectual circles. Citizens are protesting, and voters are voting against forced energy transition, which in itself is the flip side of climate exaggeration.

Better yet, with wind/solar problems taking place outdoors (and in the early stages of the transition!), open-minded people are looking back at science and climate skewed predictions. over the years and decades. They weren’t very impressed. Expect Koonin sales Unstable for development and another edition will appear in the following years.

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[1] After my email exchange with Professor Dessler (September 11, 2021). I declared:

Let’s have a debate between you and Steven Koonin or even David Friedman with a full house at Texas A&M to put you in the record – would you consider that? I will contribute $5,000 to the university to make it happen. Place the light on where the reports will be recorded. Inform it. But it must have a moderator and fair setting.

He replied that day:

Add a zero ($50,000, donated to the Texas Climate Research Center at Texas A&M) and you have a deal. You can even moderate the event and handle all the logistics. I’ll find a room on campus.

I replied (November 14, 2021):

No thanks for the invitation to increase my donation from $5,000 to $50,000. And let me moderate, etc… I want to have a real debate with me in front of an audience or watch it on TV. It deserves a prime time with physical climate science being tested.

There’s no point in lining up a climate discussion/argument in the back of the bus, right? It’s an insult to you, your opponents, and science itself.

So work on a serious budget and give it the attention it deserves. I will increase my donation appropriately….

A fair debate between the alarmists and the optimists is paramount. Why have it in some basements? Turn on the lights and have a grand event….

Professor Dessler did not answer….