Tag Archives: Matt Ridley

The origins debate

I’ve mostly tried to avoid the Covid origins debate, but I listened to a very good Guruspod episode, where they covered this. It was an interview with Eddie Holmes, Kristian Andersen, and Michael Worobey, and was partly intended as a … Continue reading

Posted in Scientists, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 613 Comments

Beyond Catastrophe

Since some commenters on my previous post have mentioned this, I though I might comment on David Wallace-Wells’ recent article in the New York Times. It’s called Beyond Catastrophe, and argues that Thanks to astonishing declines in the price of … Continue reading

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Global warming, Roger Pielke Jr | Tagged , , , , | 149 Comments

Matt Ridley – How Innovation Works

Despite having been a regular critic of Matt Ridley’s Lukewarmerism, I’ve just finished reading his new book How Innovation Works. I actually quite enjoyed the book and found it quite an easy read. Ridley is clearly a very convincing writer. … Continue reading

Posted in Philosophy for Bloggers, Policy | Tagged , , , | 90 Comments

Extinction rebellion

I’ve written about extinction rebellion before. Although I think they get some of the science wrong, and some of their demands seem unrealistic (we can’t get emissions to zero in 7 years), they are having an impact. We keep getting … Continue reading

Posted in advocacy, Climate change, ClimateBall | Tagged , , | 114 Comments

Survivor bias

I was in a book shop a few days ago and noticed a book with authors that included Matt Ridley and Steven Pinker. It was about whether or not humankind’s best days lie ahead. I didn’t buy (I probably should … Continue reading

Posted in Climate change, GRRRROWTH, Politics | Tagged , , | 293 Comments

Between conflation and denial

I’m on my way back from Cambridge, where I had a very pleasant evening with our Stoatness. I also happened to have a look at Climate etc., where Judith is promoting a new paper by Peter Tangney, a Lecturer at … Continue reading

Posted in ClimateBall, Comedy, Policy, Politics, Pseudoscience, Research, Satire | Tagged , , , , , | 340 Comments

RCP8.5

There’s been a lengthy discussion on Twitter about RCP8.5. I think it was initiated by Roger Pielke Jr, who continues in his campaign to police the scientific community: https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/994358451131240448 This complaint was then promoted by Matt Ridley, and the discussion … Continue reading

Posted in Climate change, Climate sensitivity, ClimateBall, Policy, Research, Scientists | Tagged , , , , | 277 Comments

No, we’re not slipping into a proper ice age

Matt Ridley, who I have written about numerous times before, has a new article in The Times called global cooling is not worth shivering about, which claims that The Earth is very slowly slipping back into a proper ice age … Continue reading

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, GRRRROWTH, Policy | Tagged , , , , , , | 67 Comments

It’s complicated, and it’s coupled

Matt Ridley, whose writings I’ve discussed before, has a new article in The Times called we are more than a match for hurricanes, that essentially argues that [w]hether or not tropical storms are becoming fiercer, our growing wealth and ingenuity … Continue reading

Posted in Climate change, Climate sensitivity, Global warming, Policy, Severe Events, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 192 Comments

No, peer-review isn’t tainted!

It seems that some climate “skeptics” are revelling in the publication of another hoax paper. In this case a paper called The conceptual penis as a social construct, which has now been withdrawn (an archived version is here). The authors … Continue reading

Posted in Climate change, Research, Science, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , , , | 315 Comments