Author Archives: Willard

About Willard

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Can Contrarians Lose?

Posted on January 11, 2018

No. Thesis – Contrarians always win Proof. Let the following assumptions hold: (1) science is a corrective process; (2) scientific beliefs are revisable; (3) contrarians could (and probably will, one day, with AI) claim everything science doesn’t claim. Ergo, Betteridge’s Law … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, Contrarian Matrix | Tagged , , | 83 Comments

Going Nuclear

Posted on November 29, 2017

An epic tweetspat with pseudo-modern engineers made me think of the following confutation of the Breakthrough playbook: First, nuclear energy needs to compete with fossil fuels, not renewables like wind or solar. This point rests on the basic observation that the … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, GRRRROWTH | Tagged , , , | 89 Comments

Sound Science

Posted on October 20, 2017

By some serendipity, I noticed and responded to a tweet where Kevin Folta was trying to ridicule the accusation that he was “pro-GMO”: How about "pro-artificial plant-growth environments" or simply "pro-biotech"? Self-serving caricatures won't make social labeling disappear. — willard … Continue reading →

Posted in advocacy, Science, Scientists | Tagged , , , | 58 Comments

The Portable POMO

Posted on September 10, 2017

Five paragraphs from Michel Foucault ought to be enough to dig POMO. Let’s take those that start his concluding remarks to the Seminar Discourse and Truth: the Problematization of Parrhesia. Parrhesia refers to the act of speaking candidly: My intention was … Continue reading →

Posted in Freedom Fighters, Philosophy for Bloggers, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , | 146 Comments

The Linear Model for Richies

Posted on August 2, 2017

Not long ago, Richie contended that sticking to presenting true information and letting otters decide what to do, given that information, was “the neatest little summary of the linear model.” This short note should suffice to show that this claim … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, Good Ol' Richie, Richie, Roger Pielke Jr, Sound Science (tm) | 53 Comments

Peddling

Posted on June 16, 2017

https://neverendingaudit.tumblr.com/post/150362283819 Peddling is arguably the most favorite way for contrarians to lob factoids behind enemy lines. Once a door opens, peddlers block it with their foot and dispatch their sale pitches. Peddled talking points seldom matter to the topic at hand, … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, Freedom Fighters | Tagged , , | 78 Comments

Freedom Fighters

Posted on May 13, 2017

I’ve been using the Freedom Fighter label for a while now. It’s more evocative than libertarian, less pejorative than market fundamentalist, and furthermore alliterative. In the following note, I am pleased to report some evidence that Freedom Fighters may become … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, Freedom Fighters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 170 Comments