Scientific method

“Science is an ongoing race between our inventing ways to fool ourselves, and our inventing ways to avoid fooling ourselves.” – Saul Perlmutter

by Judith Curry
If you think about the costs I’ll pay for raising these concerns, including the cost of damaged relationships with people that I like, I think you will conclude that a personal commitment to science is the only thing that could be big enough to offset these costs. – Paul Romer

Ed Dolan pointed me to a series of remarkable posts  from economist Paul Romer’s blog:

by Judith Curry
With this method the dangers of parental affection for a favorite theory can be circumvented. – T.C. Chamberlin

by Judith Curry
Perhaps my experience in studying the Earth, initially with few restrictions and later with increasingly sophisticated interaction with government sponsors and various planning committees, will provide a perspective on this great transition from science being primarily an intellectual pastime of private persons to its present status as a major contributor to the quality of human life and the prosperity of nations. – Charles Keeling

by Judith Curry
On this 80th anniversary of Carl Sagan’s birthday.

by Judith Curry
We are also told of general catastrophes and a succession of deluges, of the alternation of periods of repose and disorder, of the refrigeration of the globe, and of the sudden annihilation of whole races of animals and plants, and other hypotheses, in which we see the ancient spirit of speculation revived, and a desire manifested to cut, rather than patiently to untie, the Gordian knot. – Charles Lyell
 

by Judith Curry
The divorce between philosophers and scientists is fairly recent.  Its time for a reconciliation.

by Judith Curry Correlation doesn’t imply  causation. An interesting article in Slate:  Correlation does not imply causation:  How the internet fell in love with a stats class cliche. Excerpts: The correlation phrase has become so common and so irritating that … Continue reading →

Dr. Ricardo Duchesne, professor of social studies at the University of New Brunswick Saint John, was a guest on Red Ice Radio, speaking about his book, the Uniqueness of Western Civilization, on April 18, 2014. Here were some of the highlights I noted: Cultural Marxist professors who criticize Western Civilization highlight a dilemma, of criticizing […]

By Judith Curry Does global warming make extreme weather events worse?   The IPCC SREX found limited evidence of global warming worsening extreme events. Nevertheless, there are a lot of climate scientists that think global warming is worsening extreme events. … Continue reading →