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Henry Clark's avatar

In my opinion, empirical science being the science of cause and effect is the science of Einstein and rationality. Political science is the unfortunate offspring of policy as the autocrat’s latest whim and politicians are the profiteers from the autocratic whimsy.

Einstein’s relativity proved that empirical science was the only plausible method of understanding reality..

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Van Snyder's avatar

If I didn't already know John is a physicist, I'd have guessed from this article that he's a system engineer. My System Engineering professors pounded into our heads in every lecture "you cannot do just one thing."

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John Droz's avatar

VS: TY but engineers and scientists are very different things.

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Christine T.'s avatar

I'm from Canada and unfortunately we are not where the US is in recognizing this. We have Mark Carney as PM and he's all about renewable energy. He pretends that he wants to get pipeline projects going in Canada but hasn't really changed our policies to allow for this. The Liberals made it look like they have, but basically have set it up for failure saying they won't proceed if they don't have all parties on board (i.e provincial premiers and Indigenous).

Our economy (and society) was already on a downward slope under PM JT and now it's only going to get worse.

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John Droz's avatar

Christine: We have many friends in Canada, and have always felt that they are good people. Their last two leaders are questionable...

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Christine T.'s avatar

Hi John,

Thank you. There are many people who are aware of what's going on but the truth doesn't make it to the legacy media. I'm hopeful that more people will begin to see the difference between the political science of recent years and true science.

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John Droz's avatar

Christine: Yes, that is one of my objectives.

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Jose R Alvarez's avatar

Mr Droz: thanks for the work you do…! Personally, I think of you as a Scientific Hero in today’s so heavily politicized world.

You may want to work towards generally eliminating the so-called concept of ‘renewable’ energy. While some energy can be ‘captured’ and reused, eventually it goes to heat that can not be economically recycled. At least, that is what I remember from my Thermodynamics courses going for ChE Degrees way back when…

Nothing good or solid can come from erroneous concepts. Of course, you are well aware…!

God knows , we need to think straight…!

Jose R Alvarez, MChE, Villanova, 1962

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John Droz's avatar

Jose: Thank you for your support. I agree that almost everything about "renewable" energy has been distorted by their lobbyists. I side with those who call it "unreliable" energy.

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Barbara Charis's avatar

Thanks for pointing out the major flaw in our educational system from K - 12....the need to bring real science back into the curriculum...and teach critical thinking. I am so grateful to a father who played chess with me for 4 years (from 7 to 11 years old)...and taught me to think, before I made a move. He also told me that grades were not as important as knowledge...and don't believe everything you read, just because it is in a book.

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John Droz's avatar

Barbara: You're welcome. Chess is a good game to exercise your thinking muscles. I also play Bridge, which is even better — as you have to coordinate with a partner.

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Barbara Charis's avatar

In about 1960. my husband and I played in a progressive bridge tournament at Rancho La Puerta, in Tecate, Mexico, which was a vegetarian health resort. My husband was a very good bridge player, but I had really never played before. He came in first, but he was shocked, because I came in 2nd in the tournament. He didn't think I would even be able to play at all.

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John Droz's avatar

Barbara: Sounds good but one thing I don't understand... Bridge is a partnership game, so the two people on each team come in as a unit — e.g., you and your husband would have come in first.

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Barbara Charis's avatar

Progressive bridge had us start as a couple, but we kept switching partners, after a game was finished.

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John Droz's avatar

Barbara: OK, that is a very rare "version" of bridge — which is usually either Duplicate Bridge or Rubber Bridge.

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Mark Miller's avatar

Thanks for integrating the recent activities- sorting wheat from chaff!

We have been without reliable access to the WWW since the 29th of last month! Our ISP confirmed that our band width, maybe they meant strength of signal, has been below acceptable standards. A technician is scheduled to be out later today. Naturally, before I could post this comment our wi-fi box was flashing red yet again. The modem cycles between blue, white, and black.

Signals flow at the right frequency and voltages in both directions after Larry replaced a faulty connector on the main line up at the power pole.

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Ed Reid's avatar

There are certainly sufficient "known unknowns" in climate science as subjects for "Gold Standard" science. We can only hope there are sufficient "Gold Standard" climate scientists.

There are certainly more than sufficient narrative-supporting "scary scenario" political science studies. Many of them have produced "Mann-tastic" results.

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Van Snyder's avatar

The scientific method requires falsifiable hypotheses. Climatism is no more of a science than Political "Science." I place that activity somewhere on a scale between philately and botany.

Yes, like archaeology, there are scientific disciplines that can be deployed to study the phenomenon. But the discipline, in toto, cannot honestly be portrayed as science.

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John Droz's avatar

Ed: Yes.

That said, Science is not based on the quantity of proponents. For example, Einstein was the only scientist to propose the Theory of Relativity. Hundreds of other scientists were skeptical. If our scientific research is based on the four elements I identified, the results will be high quality.

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Ed Reid's avatar

In Einstein’s case, one was enough. Today there are certainly more than one.

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John Droz's avatar

Ed: Yes. My point is when it comes to Science, all it takes is one. That is always the case, for any matter.

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