Message #32215

[andre]

However, I think we short-change ourselves by not talking about the consensus. The point is, if the consensus didn't exist, if it was simply James Hansen (from NASA) stating that global warming existed, his ideas could easily be relegated to the theories of one, perhaps eccentric scientist.  The fact that he isn't the only one saying it, that it is a part of a consensus, speaks volumes.  As you know there are a lot of scientific theories out there, very few become accepted as likely, or even "fact."

But it's not consensus deciding what is a fact. For instance how many Galilei's were required to figure out that the Earth was not the centre of the universe? And how many Alfred Wegeners to find out that continents drifted?

Moreover recall the link to the Independant summary for policy makers, originally posted in this thread, showing that it's not a mere, perhaps eccentric scientist who has sincere doubts about the hypothesis.