climategate

In the interest of fairness, here is a letter from a friend:



Hi Rabbi Gottlieb,

After reading your "Climate Science" post on your blog, I thought I'd share the following.


Although I found myself not wanting to see a video that took the climate scientists viewpoint of the hacked emails story, I finally couldn't resist. I must say that it shook my resolve a bit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nnVQ2fROOg

The fellow in the video makes the best case so far I've seen (although not without a couple of problems) that the CRU emails scandal isn't really as scandalous as many so-called deniers make it out to be. Be that as it may, I do NOT believe that the "science has been settled."

If I may, I'd like to share a quote that I really think you'll like. It's from Eisenhower:



http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/dwightdeisenhowerfarewell.html

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present -- and is gravely to be regarded.



Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.