Friday, November 11, 2011
Logic doesn't apply.
It's a little sad to see objective and skeptical people still clinging to certain myths. McIntyre at WUWT calls out the now-fired PSU pres Spanier, noting that Spanier's coverup of the bad sex in the Football department was identical to Spanier's coverup of the bad science in the "Environmental" "Sciences" department. The author clearly hopes that with Spanier gone, things might change in other parts of the university as well.
Nope. I commented there, and repeat here: You can't impute any sort of morality, ethics or logic to corporate management. Big universities are indistinguishable from big corporations.
The problem in the football department was not bad sex. The problem was that the exposure of bad sex was guaranteed to cause a loss of MILLIONS IN ALUMNI CONTRIBUTIONS. That's why Paterno and Spanier had to go.
Bad science is not a problem, because bad science actually BRINGS IN MILLIONS IN GRANTS. In fact, within the realm of environment, good science is prohibited because nobody writes grants for good science.
It's all about the MILLIONS. Nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else.
So Michael Mann's job is perfectly secure UNTIL the people who write the checks start to discredit bad science. And that's not going to happen in this universe.
What might happen in this universe is a destitute bankrupt government cutting off all support for research in all fields. But unless the bankruptcy happens suddenly and totally, you can be 100% certain that climate pseudoscience will be the last to go. Bad science is the established religion of the check-writing class.
Nope. I commented there, and repeat here: You can't impute any sort of morality, ethics or logic to corporate management. Big universities are indistinguishable from big corporations.
The problem in the football department was not bad sex. The problem was that the exposure of bad sex was guaranteed to cause a loss of MILLIONS IN ALUMNI CONTRIBUTIONS. That's why Paterno and Spanier had to go.
Bad science is not a problem, because bad science actually BRINGS IN MILLIONS IN GRANTS. In fact, within the realm of environment, good science is prohibited because nobody writes grants for good science.
It's all about the MILLIONS. Nothing else. Nothing else. Nothing else.
So Michael Mann's job is perfectly secure UNTIL the people who write the checks start to discredit bad science. And that's not going to happen in this universe.
What might happen in this universe is a destitute bankrupt government cutting off all support for research in all fields. But unless the bankruptcy happens suddenly and totally, you can be 100% certain that climate pseudoscience will be the last to go. Bad science is the established religion of the check-writing class.
Labels: Ethics
¶ 5:49 AM
