Things I Know #16

I was thinking about that last post and the article that inspired it -- especially the bit about Global Warming as a contributing cause of the war in Darfur. Many, even most people don't seem to know Things I Know #1 -- That Evidence and Proof are not synonymous, either. Which makes this next one worse.

There is a theory that increased CO2 will lead to a warmer atmosphere. But there isn't any credible evidence (hard data) to back it up. So far, the variation in temperature has been well within the natural, historical variation. And every year, the dire predictions get toned down for the near future. The promised big evidence is pushed to "just a few years off, you'll see. Then you'll really be sorry." So day after day we see people struggling to show us, "see, look! Over here! This isn't normal!" -- whether they know anything about what's "normal" or not... and then.... and then... the rationalization process kicks in. Well there must be some way that Global Warming can explain this... which gives us more evidence for Global Warming.

And that leads us to Things I Know #16. Another one I've known for a long time, but haven't thought about it at the same time I was thinking about posting.

16. When people look too hard for evidence of something, they usually find it whether it's there or not.

This is probably not the most succinct example of Things I Know #16, but it's good enough to get it on the books.