"Reasearch operates past the edge of the known."

p. 193.

The goal is "The pursuit of reliable knowledge."

Spencer Weart, p. 195, The Discovery of Global Warming.

Taking knowledge "a step forward."

"You cannot point to a single observation or model that convinced everyone about anything."

p. 194.

This process of connecting

• a thousand papers
• ten thousand papers stand behind the select thousand
• one hundred thousand researchers, assitants, graduate students, grant writers stand behind these select kilo of manuscripts.

"gives a clearer picture of what scientists could see at the time."

p. 194

Behind the method lies?

"The integrity of telling the truth is important, but it is not enough...they [scientists] regulalrly fool themselves."

1/4 = .25 or a quarter

1/5 = .2 or a quintile

Could we function without decimals -- yes; but could we think without decimals? Not as well as we now think.

Because global warming is a statistical problem, a scientific certainty shrouded in atmospheric, oceanographic, and ecological uncertainty and a set of real social unknowns.

The importance of words, terminology and vision.

.

Rest of the book

fearful symmetry