[oldandtired]

The problem, as I see it, is that the "consensus" view is taken to be true. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the "97% of scientists" who believe that climate change is anthropogenic comes from a study of papers. From what I understand, the 97% is 97% of the 1/3 of papers on climate change that made any reference to climate change being anthropogenic. The other 2/3's made no reference to climate change being anthropogenic or not.

It should be irrelevant what the consensus view may be. If an alternative model or theory is proposed, then the model or theory should stand on its merits not on whether or not it agrees with the consensus view.

My view is that science is about gaining some understanding of the universe about us. If a model or theory is useful in that understanding then good, it is useful. But if a theory or model develops big holes in it then mayhaps we should be looking for alternatives that have lessor holes.

Take the example of study of standard model of sub-atomic physics. Within it, there are some quite large holes that are papered over with theoretical mathematics. Yet, if one steps back and takes another look at what is being seen there are some interesting observations to be made that raise questions about the validity of the standard model.

[TheOtherHobbes]

You’re confusing 97% of scientists with 97% of papers - which isn’t a very scientific thing to do.

As for the Standard Model - scientists would dearly love to find observations thst challenge it, but so far there’s been no consistent, high quality evidence of physics beyond it.

[oldandtired]

The question is 97% of what group of scientists? Secondly, where did the figure 97% come from in the first place?

The standard model requires a couple of base assumptions that are contradictory and problematic.

[mannykannot]

In the beginning, the consensus view was that human activity was not a significant factor in climate change. The consensus came about because of overwhelming evidence. In this matter, the causal relationship is the opposite of what you state, and you are making a false claim about how science works because you refuse to accept the evidence.

[oldandtired]

In the beginning the consensus view was that we were heading for an imminent "ice age" and then that view changes to "hockey stick global warming" and now to cover all bets, climate change.

I have questions that I have posed to climate scientists and if a reasonable answer comes back then anthropogenic climate change is on the cards. But in fifteen years, nary an answer to those questions have come back, so, any prognostications by climate scientists based on their models are, as far as I am concerned, worthless.

As far as the evidence is concerned, it may or may not support an anthropogenic causal regime. But, on the basis of that evidence, I lean towards a non-anthropogenic majority cause for climate change.

As far as how science works, climate scientists make many assumptions about their proxies that have not been verified as being conclusively accurate. There is sufficient evidence, if you actually look around for it, to say that the interpretation of the proxy evidence is either incomplete or wrong or meaningless.