Readers of this blog will know that I am largely agnostic on this issue. But I am very interested in the nature of discourse, and the course of this debate has been fascinating to watch. What initially aroused my skepticism was the inflexible dogmatism so often on display, the refusal of so many simply to entertain the possibility that they might be wrong. The aim seemed to be not to get at the truth but to defend a position at all costs. Blame my inner Jesuit.
I've been following this lack of debate ever since Scientific American magazine refused to let Bjorn Lomborg defend himself against the magazine's attacks on his position criticizing some aspects of global warming.
ReplyDeleteSince then, I've grown more and more skeptical as any kind of alternative theory is shot down without explanation. Especially since, during this time, there were people who took on the 9/11 "troothers" and the Moon-landing-is-a-hoax proponents, willing to explain exactly where their arguments are inconsistent and/or so much fairy dust.