Baffled
November 14th, 2008 by Wyatt
This may be a very geeky cultural reference, but I’ll go with it anyway. In the movie Highlander, there’s a quick scene where the cops trying to find the hero and the villain are buying a hot dog at a street vendor. The vendor is ribbing the cops for their lack of success as he reads the newspaper by mockingly asking them to help him understand words from the story like, “What does ‘baffled’ mean?” followed by a laugh or, “What does ‘incompetent’ mean?” with another cackle.
I’m reminded of that scene when I read stories like this one about scientists being “baffled” about some new atmospheric data and how it doesn’t fit the models. Here’s the lede:
Scientists at MIT have recorded a nearly simultaneous world-wide increase in methane levels. This is the first increase in ten years, and what baffles science is that this data contradicts theories stating man is the primary source of increase for this greenhouse gas. It takes about one full year for gases generated in the highly industrial northern hemisphere to cycle through and reach the southern hemisphere. However, since all worldwide levels rose simultaneously throughout the same year, it is now believed this may be part of a natural cycle in mother nature – and not the direct result of man’s contributions.
Huh. So, the natural cycle of the earth has produced a dramatically noticeable change in the atmosphere that we couldn’t predict nor could we stop? Who would have thunk it?
We cannot afford to attempt to remake the economy of the world based on the current climate models. They clearly aren’t ready for prime time and, I suspect, the truth is that we have much less control over the climate than we think.