scientific measurement and global warming
Paul Burchard (burchard@pobox.com)
Mon, 07 Dec 1998 22:57:02 -0500
One of the things that's often overlooked in teaching science is that
measurement is not a purely "objective" process (in the sense of having
an inherent meaning prior to any interpretation). Without a theory to
explain what the experimental procedure actually accomplishes, in some
model of the experimental system, one cannot say what the experiment
proves at all (or more subtly, one cannot understand which of the
unlimited variety of external conditions might affect its validity).
This principle becomes much more striking when you try to study
complicated "system effects" like global warming. Here's a cool
example...
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/science/9812/04/evaporation.enn/
PB