L1 – Science, Pseudoscience and the Battle over Global Warming

Instructor: David Thomas, $14/2 sessions

Monday, March 11 & 18, 10 am – 12N

Faith

The first of these two lectures will examine what makes science unique among human endeavors. While political, religious and legal arguments all involve making one's case by cherry-picking facts,science proceeds by cherry-picking those hypotheses that best explain all facts. We will consider the role of scientific consensus and peer review, Cargo Cult science, cognitive illusions and more. At the second meeting, we will consider how these concepts apply to climate change and global warming. Why is carbon dioxide more worrisome than other greenhouse gases? How can we tell man-made warming from natural climate change? Has the “Climategate” scandal really disproved global warming?  Has science found human-caused global warming to be real, or do we need more data?

Dave Thomas has a B.S. in physics and an M.S. in mathematics from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. He is a software scientist and also teaches psychology and physics at New Mexico Tech. He is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, publishers of Skeptical Inquirer. Dave has numerous publications and television appearances to his credit, and is president of New Mexicans for Science and Reason.

Click here to download the slides from the March 18  lecture on Global Warming.