Just fantastic.
Apart from being written entirely in prose, which I have a weakness for, the core of this video is exactly what frustrates me most about politics and positions today. That core is summarized as follows:
If you have a position, back it by data. If you get new data that contradicts your existing position, either fix your data or change your position.
Somehow, we've gotten into this mindset that changing positions is wrong, or that it's our job to dismiss data so that we can remain true to our original belief. If the data is valid, why can't you change your position? To paraphrase the video:
It is this particular point that makes me so frustrated with the current global warming debate. Especially with the discussion of the melting of the West Antarctic Glacier, it is more than a little terrifying the world we are leaving for the next generation. Yet people still deny the science. To go back to the video:If you can prove I'm wrong, I will change my mind. I’ll spin on a fucking dime.
Science adjusts it's beliefs based on what's observedFaith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved.
Time and again when I get into a discussion of any kind with those who do not believe the climate science, they cannot say a) what the motivation would be behind a near universal conspiracy of climate scientists (grant money?) or b) what data they WOULD accept that would cause them to change their opinion. This blows my mind.
Religion, on the other hand (and which, by and large, I have no objection to) is faith-based. It requires a structure, and then faith in that structure, to the exclusion of all data. There is nothing wrong with this, as long as it's self-regarding only. The problem is when it starts to affect other people, which denial of global warming CERTAINLY does.
This is why I consider climate change deniers to be a religion - they form an opinion, and, no matter what facts are presented, they cling to their faith. So, like all religions, I believe they should be contained within purely self-regarding behavior only, and restricted from doing anything that impinges on the freedoms of the populous as a whole.
The hilarity of the situation is that they claim the exact reverse, that climate science is a religion. So, I'll ask this now, if your position of global warming denial is based in fact, what are the facts that would change your mind? Please base your question in some form of scientific structure, that takes into account the natural variability of the Earth and geologic time scales we're talking about here. Tell me, and we'll find them. Not that I have any hope of changing your mind.