freeman dyson
illconsidered | June 26, 2009This has been an open tab in Firefox for a long time now, so I figure I had better just point people to it and be done with it...
James Hrynyshyn (love that last name, but only because computers have copy and paste!) has an interesting comparison of two interviews on Island of Doubt (note to self: add this to the blogroll). The first is Gavin Schmidt of RealClimate fame (oh yeah, he also works for some outfit called NASA GISS or something) being interviewed at Salon a few weeks ago. The second is an interview with Freeman Dyson on Yale's Environment 360.
Go have a look for some excerpts and…
amillikan | April 2, 2009In an article in The New York Times Magazine Sunday, Freeman Dyson—best known for his work in theoretical physics—discussed his belief that climate change is an issue that should be approached with skepticism. ScienceBloggers responded with thoughtful consideration. Dyson stated in the Times piece that while prevailing dogmas about climate change may be right, they deserve to be challenged. "That they do," conceded ScienceBlogger James Hrynyshyn from The Island of Doubt. "My only quibble is they are best challenged by those with a good grasp of the latest findings."
hrynyshyn | April 2, 2009"I'm not an expert on any of these things. Much of what I say should be taken with a grain of salt."
So said Freeman Dyson, Professor Emeritus at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Physics, all-round brilliant scientist, and self-professed global warming "heretic," during a round of questions and answers following his talk Tuesday night at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. "I am not speaking to you as a scientist, but as a story-teller ... of science fiction."
So why then, I asked, should we pay attention to what you have to say on climate change, considering that those who are experts in…
hrynyshyn | March 30, 2009Freeman Dyson is on the cover of yesterday's New York Times Magazine. Inside a baseball writer (a very good baseball writer, but still) gives the man an opportunity to explain why he doesn't believe climate change is something to worry about.
Others have lamented the attention devoted by the nation's leading newspaper to the thoughts of someone who has no expertise in the field. I share Chris Mooney's reservations about the writer's understanding of the way scientific skepticism is supposed to work. But Dyson cannot be easily dismissed if for no other reason than he has proven himself to be…
hrynyshyn | October 1, 2007Freeman Dyson is one of those important scientists it's impossible to ignore, even when he's dead wrong. In an interview with Salon, he says lots of silly things -- don't worry about the polar bear, religion and science are compatible, and "we have no reason to think that climate change is harmful." But you gotta love the guy anyway...
You gotta love him for two reasons. First, because he came up with the very cool idea of the Dyson sphere, a mammoth shell surrounding a star that supplies the inhabitants of the interior with the maximum amount of solar energy. Second, because he's humble…