| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Home Front: Politix | |
| ClimateGate corrupts physics: Hal Lewis resigns from APS | |
| 2010-10-09 | |
| I do feel the need to add one note, and this is conjecture, since it is always risky to discuss other people's motives. This scheming at APS HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple explanation for it. Some have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as they used to be, but I don't think that is an issue. I think it is the money, exactly what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club. Your own Physics Department (of which you are chairman) would lose millions a year if the global warming bubble burst. When Penn State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, and the University of East Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have been unaware of the financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying goes, you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Since I am no philosopher, I'm not going to explore at just which point enlightened self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a careful reading of the ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is not an academic question. I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends. Hal Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; Former member Defense Science Board, chmn of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on Nuclear Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Former member, President's Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman APS study on Nuclear Reactor Safety Chairman Risk Assessment Review Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former member USAF Scientific Advisory Board; Served in US Navy in WW II; books: Technological Risk (about, surprise, technological risk) and Why Flip a Coin (about decision making)
| |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
| #10 "There are not enough angry voters. The numbers are not enough for senators or congressman to think it's worth taking political flak over," he added. On the contrary. There are lots and lots of angry voters. |
| Posted by: KBK 2010-10-09 19:07 |
| #9 "There will be, I'm afraid, no real expansion of the carbon markets to their global potential without movement in the U.S.," said Henry Derwent, chief executive and president of the International Emissions Trading Association. "Until someone explains to them (the U.S.) how wrong they are, we will be stuck with a comfortable living in the European market but nothing, nothing near the potential we should be earning," he added. No carbon market boom without U.S http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6932LZ20101004 |
| Posted by: Black Charlie Chinemble5313 2010-10-09 18:07 |
| #8 That was as eloquent a smackdown as you could ask for. I once was a research assistant in grad school to a woman who researched second-hand smoke. You ever think any of her studies indicated it wasn't a health risk? That's when I caught onto the funding game. By the wildest stroke of luck, the week before climate-gate blew up, I gave a research methods lecture casting doubt on the whole affair. |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2010-10-09 17:56 |
| #7 should've quit APSHQ and switched to AOS HQ |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-10-09 17:18 |
| #6 I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends. Physics and the scientific process still remains the same. It is a few physicists along with the government who have corrupted the profession. I wouldn't worry for a minute about remaining friends with these crooks. Friends like these you don't need. What Professor Lewis points out is rampant in our scientific disciplines and government. The current push-back by citizens is a reaction to widespread corruption and deception in government. Few trust their government. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-10-09 16:26 |
| #5 WOW! |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2010-10-09 13:39 |
| #4 It would be worth your time to read the whole thing at the link. Rather scathing. Scrumptious, in fact. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-10-09 12:25 |
| #3 It also points to where cutting can start in the budget. Time to end welfare to the 'gifted'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-10-09 08:21 |
| #2 Once again, government money and the pagan worship of permanent perfect income stream security combine as the ultimate corrupting forces. These folks aren't scientists, they're no different than big city public sector union flunkies, collecting their thirty years guaranteed pay with a guaranteed pension. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2010-10-09 05:55 |
| #1 It would be worth your time to read the whole thing at the link. Rather scathing. |
| Posted by: tipover 2010-10-09 02:19 |