Excellent article by JV DeLong at Forbes:
The Structure Of Climate Change Revolutions: It's The Sun
From one perspective, EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP) is a triumph of the Church of the Environment, a bold effort to remake the electric grid in response to the assumed imperative of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
From another angle, CPP looks different. It is the last gasp of a dying scientific paradigm, one fated to join the museum of oddities of science, such as phlogiston, the idea that bleeding a patient is the road to health, and the rejection of plate tectonics theory.
Half a century ago, T. S. Kuhn wrote his famous The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. He posited that science does not proceed in orderly fashion, with discoveries building on each other in steady progression. Instead, it proceeds by fits and starts. In a given field, an over-arching explanation – a paradigm – will dominate, providing the frame of reference and identifying legitimate areas of inquiry. Kuhn calls this “normal science.” Over time, however, anomalies arise, as observations do not accord with the paradigm, and the theory must be modified in complex and sometimes ad hoc ways. Eventually, the anomalies, inconsistencies, and ad hoc character of the patches become overwhelming, and the field is ripe for a new paradigm that better fits the observations.
The classic example is the Copernican Revolution. The theory that the solar system revolves around the earth became burdened with increasing complications, complications that disappeared when the paradigm of heliocentricity came to the fore.
Decaying paradigms do not always go gently. Fierce conflict is common, but as physicist Max Planck said, “Science advances one funeral at a time,” and eventually the old guard disappears.
Climate change science is on the edge of Kuhn-style revolution.
Excellent observations - this is a longish article (four pages) and well worth your time to read. Lots of links to corroborating articles and books.
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