I'm fed up of hearing about climate change. I'm pretty sure you are too. If it's not the debates being had over a 16-year-old school girl just doing her own thing, it's leaders of countries saying something that gets half the world riled up. Social media debates occur, and every idiot out there offers up their unqualified opinion on a topic they've not even read about – at best they've watched a few YouTube videos and listened to some chap saying something for or against the topic, and then use those same talking points online.
Bill the truck driver from Texas, Siddhant the B-Com graduate from India, Tim the plumber from Australia, Stephen the comedian from Canada and Aishlee the women's studies graduate from the UK, all offer up their wisdom about a topic they totally ignorant about. And when Boo man from Mumbai points out their lack of qualifications for the subject, he gets hate from both sides of the argument.
"I've done my research!", They all say, by which they mean they have read a few articles and the summaries of some random studies that they have no way of understanding. The sources of their information are new media portals run by lobbyists from either side of the political spectrum, and so obviously biased that you can smell the freshly painted narrative a mile away. If there are any unbiased sources of information left, they're almost impossible to find.
Where are the scientists in all of this? Holed up in their labs doing the work, and running their studies. Who gets invited to the all the debates to present their point of view? Popular speakers, often physicists or neurologists, or wrestlers, boxers, politicians, and chefs, who really have no business talking about the topic, let alone debating it for public consumption. But hey, with speaking fees ranging from 5,000 USD per hour to as much as 100,000 USD per hour, can you blame them? Heck if someone paid me a tenth that per hour, I'd happily debate climate change, quantum chromodynamics, string theory and everything under the sun, despite my apparent ignorance in all of those subjects!
The real problem with things like Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) that has become popular topics of debate, is the idea that something that can be found out empirically by looking at facts is reduced to a cheap one-upmanship debate, or worse, is turned into something politicians use to further their own agendas, and get votes.
When you take scientific principles, and throw them open to debate, encouraging the general public to offer their opinions, you have already lost the battle (Brexit anyone?). This is why many climate scientists refuse to even debate the science in public forums, because there it doesn't matter who is right or wrong – all that matters is who scored the most cheap shots. Even worse, the debate legitimizes the claim of the person on the other side. If NASA and ISRO scientists started showing up for debates with flat earthers, chances are it would be far more beneficial to the flat earthers. It would raise them to equal status as ISRO scientists for the period of the debate, and no doubt there would be some people out there who would think, “Wow! Maybe there is something to this flat earth theory after all! ”.
No doubt, there will be people who accuse me of trying to silence debate, or somehow impugn free speech – and in doing so will, ironically … exercise their free speech !. However, free speech does not mean you should assist in spreading fake news, or wrong data. There's a reason why you and I cannot just set up shop and pretend to know how to practice medicine, and start giving people sugar pills to swallow (oh wait, we actually can do that!). If we gave real pills however, we'd (rightfully) be sent to jail for endangering the lives of a few people.
When it comes to the topic of AGW, what's at stake is millions of species of plants and animals, and even the very remote possibility of endangering billions of human lives! If I can be sent to jail for endangering the lives of a handful of people, what would be a fitting punishment for risking the lives of, say, 3 billion people?
Currently, the “punishment” is to be rewarded with thousands of dollars in speaking fees, YouTube ad revenues, a book deal, or some likes and shares…
Welcome to the new world … where everyone suffers the Dunning – Kruger effect, and couldn't care less about the consequences of their actions. And it's not just about AGW, because this is a universal malady, and is fast becoming the way every single topic is discussed these days.
I honestly find myself looking forward to the next global recession, because maybe worrying about feeding our families will keep our fingers busy, and stop us from pretending to be know-it-all scientists online just for kicks! Or maybe, I'm the narcissistic idiot? What do you think?
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