Category Archives: ethics

Moral models

Posted on February 28, 2022 by ...and Then There's Physics

I thought I would highlight a recent video presentation by Eric Winsberg, called Moral Models, Crucial Decisions in the Age of Computer Simulations. Some may remember that Eric co-wrote a post here about extreme weather event attribution. The theme of … Continue reading →

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Posted in ethics, Policy, Scientists, The philosophy of science | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

Have CO2 emissions peaked?

Posted on January 2, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

I noticed, as has Stoat, that Ken Caldeira and Ted Nordhaus have a bet about whether or not we’ve reached peak CO2 emissions. Specifically, the bet is Between 2021 and the end of 2030, annual fossil fuel emissions (excluding carbonation) … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ethics, Global warming, Philosophy for Bloggers | Tagged , , , , | 92 Comments

Climate change doesn’t work like that

Posted on November 17, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

A couple of years ago I wrote a post where I tried to explain why I thought climate change was a different kind of problem when compared to most of the other issues we might face today. I find it … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Environmental change, ethics, Policy, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 72 Comments

Superior

Posted on July 29, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

Something I’ve done on this blog quite a lot is push back against the narrative that science is social. This doesn’t mean that I think individual scientists can’t be biased, or that we won’t sometimes go down the wrong path … Continue reading →

Posted in ethics, Scientists, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , | 213 Comments

Apocalypse never?

Posted on July 1, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

I guess the current entertainment in the climate world relates to Michael Shellenberger’s new book, Apocolypse Never, which is due to come out next month and is already doing well on Amazon. In a somewhat amusing twist, Michael wrote a … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Environmental change, ethics | Tagged , , , , | 198 Comments

Growth?

Posted on March 3, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

Just over a year ago, I wrote a post about limits to growth that focussed on an article written by Michael Liebreich. I found his argument particularly silly as it seemed to suggest that the economy could grow until the … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental change, ethics, Philosophy for Bloggers, Policy | Tagged , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Potentially habitable?

Posted on September 14, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

The exciting news in astronomy is the discovery of water in the atmosphere of a relatively small planet, known as K2-18b, that happens to lie in what we often to as the habitable zone of its parent star. The result … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, ethics, Research, Scientists, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 61 Comments

Retract!

Posted on July 25, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

I’ve been on holiday for a week or so. While I’ve been away there’s been quite a lot of media coverage of the paper that I discussed in this post and that we discussed extensively in this pubpeer thread. It … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, ethics, Philosophy for Bloggers, Research, Scientists, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 58 Comments

A human extinction denier?

Posted on June 4, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

Mike Hulme has a new essay that some are promoting on Twitter. He suggests that he is a human extinction denier and objects to the climate emergency narrative. Although I have my own concerns about some of the extreme rhetoric, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, ethics, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 114 Comments

Democracy

Posted on January 20, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

I’ve mostly avoided writing about Brexit, as it’s a pretty depressing situation. There are many aspects of this issue that I find frustrating, but something I find particularly irritating is when politicians claim that not leaving the EU would be … Continue reading →

Posted in ethics, Personal, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 91 Comments