But critics say that the report in some cases overstated the level
of scientific certainty on the issue or simply got things wrong.
Not exact matches
On 28 October, she told the Boston Chamber
of Commerce that Congress needs «to double our investment in
scientific and biomedical research and create more year - to - year
certainty for that funding.»
Within the first paragraph
of their review, they state that «women have the right to feel sexual pleasure, and for this reason sexual medicine experts and sexologists must spread
certainties on the biological basis to all women, not hypotheses or personal opinions, and they must use
scientific sexual terminology.»
Until recently, such treatments thrived
on the power
of patient lore, not
scientific certainty.
If we don't recognize that our belief in
scientific progress is a kind
of faith, that is because these patterns take
on a sense
of certainty in hindsight.
But if you take the same strategy and follow the reception
of uncertainty through the media, such as the CBS broadcast
on «Silent Spring,» and in the President's Science Advisory Committee policy documents, in Carson's testimony before Congress, and in the E.P.A.'s ban
on DDT, you can witness the same strategy to assert ignorance and risk, and use visceral images to transform
scientific uncertainty into a political
certainty.
I suppose,
on reading it again, that you could construe what I said to mean that we should not act if we have full
scientific certainty... but that's obviously not what I meant, because if we have full
scientific certainty (as I pointed out in my examples
of seat belts and condoms) we don't need the precautionary principle at all.
If Dr Curry's
scientific position is «there is a considerable amount
of uncertainty, therefore we should at least be able to draw some boundaries around them before pushing for a consensus
on certainty» (I hope my paraphrase is close to the mark), then advocating for a change in the process
of conducting climate science follows logically.
But few PR offences have been so obvious, so successful and so despicable as the attack
on the
scientific certainty of climate change.
As we have pointed out before, in 1992, the «consensus» was characterised very differently to today, and the UNFCCC agreements proceeded not
on the basis
of scientific evidence and
certainty, but according to the precautionary principle.
The former can be said with a great deal
of certainty because it relies
on and a reality
of scientific measurement and the statistical analysis
of error bounds.
The whole point
of the global warming scare is to take an uncertain and unproven
scientific hypothesis and insist
on it as an absolute
scientific certainty requiring immediate action — which just so happens to be a very specific agenda that aligns perfectly with a certain political outlook.
The Paris agreement to cut anthropogenic CO2 emissions is based
on a precautinary principle declarated in the Rio conference: «Rio Declaration
on Environment and Development, The United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development, Having met at Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992, Princible 15, http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual//Default.asp?documentid=78&articleid=1163» — Where there are threats
of serious or irreversible damage, lack
of full
scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost - effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.
If you claim that the climate change impacts predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) have not reached a level
of scientific certainty that warrants action, do you agree that climate change impacts predicted by IPCC could be wrong in both directions, potentially leading to even harsher adverse impacts than those predicted?
In the meantime, during the debates about US domestic policy
on climate change that have been taking place for almost thirty years, the US media has reported
on climate issues almost exclusively by focusing
on issues
of scientific certainty about climate change impacts and economic cost to the US economy.
Given the acknowledged uncertainties and limitations expressed in the title, it is hard to believe that the graph showcased in the paper would later become the poster child
of certainty for a
scientific consensus
on global warming — but it would become just that.
Adapting core principles
of risk assessment to climate: To date, the approach
of climate change assessments has primarily been rooted in communicating relative
scientific certainty and uncertainty around anticipated changes in the physical climate system, along with some basic biophysical impacts that would seem to be generally implied by those climate changes: based, for example,
on general understanding
of associations such as those between impacts and weather extremes.
It turns out, in fact, that «
certainty» relates not to the
scientific understanding
of the influence
of CO2
on natural processes, but the application
of the precautionary principle.
It is therefore correct, indeed verging
on compulsory in the
scientific tradition, to be skeptical
of those who express
certainty that «the science is settled» and «the debate is over».
'' this WGI Technical Summary and the WGI Summary for Policymakers rely
on two metrics for communicating the degree
of certainty in key findings, which is based
on author teams» evaluations
of underlying
scientific understanding:»
Recent arguments dominating the public discussion
on climate change seem to have been about the «
scientific consensus» achieving
certainty, rather than advising caution in the face
of doubt.
It is even more interesting in the light
of Oreskes» claims that
scientific certainty on global warming had been achieved well before 1992:
The IF was used
on these threads as an heuristic device to enable understanding
of the role
of uncertainty in
scientific problems where there are «conflicting
certainties» and expert assessments
of confidence levels.
The theme
of the conference, «Restoring the
Scientific Method,» acknowledges the fact that claims of scientific certainty and predictions of climate catastrophes are based on «post-normal science,» which substitutes claims of consensus for the scientif
Scientific Method,» acknowledges the fact that claims
of scientific certainty and predictions of climate catastrophes are based on «post-normal science,» which substitutes claims of consensus for the scientif
scientific certainty and predictions
of climate catastrophes are based
on «post-normal science,» which substitutes claims
of consensus for the
scientificscientific method.
«Few PR offences have been so obvious, so successful and so despicable as the attack
on the
scientific certainty of climate change.
The theme
of the conference was «Restoring the
Scientific Method,» and based on the premise that «claims of scientific certainty and predictions of climate catastrophes are based on «post-normal science,» which substitutes claims of consensus for the scientific meth
Scientific Method,» and based
on the premise that «claims
of scientific certainty and predictions of climate catastrophes are based on «post-normal science,» which substitutes claims of consensus for the scientific meth
scientific certainty and predictions
of climate catastrophes are based
on «post-normal science,» which substitutes claims
of consensus for the
scientific meth
scientific method.»
Discrediting the expert in her 2014 case whose opinions were not based
on a reasonable degree
of scientific certainty.
In their submission to Supreme Court case addressing issues
of causation and Workers Compensation Appeals Tribunal jurisdiction, IAVGO and ONIWG argue that
scientific certainty is not required (and in fact definitive
scientific evidence
on work - related causation rarely exists).
This is because the law requires proof
of causation only
on a balance
of probabilities, whereas
scientific or medical experts often require a higher degree
of certainty before drawing conclusions
on causation (p. 330).