现实再次嘲笑北卡罗来纳州

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本文发表于《大众科学》的前博客网络,并反映了作者的观点,不一定代表《大众科学》的观点。


不仅仅是内特·西尔弗

当然,西尔弗的选举数学上的完胜是科学给迷信、“直觉”、和魔法思维一记耳光的最显著例子:“拜托,你们这些笨蛋。”

但是现实正在各地反击——在某些地方,这种猛烈的恰当性近乎喜剧、悲剧或两者兼而有之。以北卡罗来纳州为例,最近的事件表明,讽刺的时代远未结束。事实证明,北卡罗来纳州——州立法机构的座右铭是“反对科学!”——正在感受到世界上最显著的气候变化影响。


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回顾一下北卡罗来纳州那些试图立法取消海平面上升测量的州议员们。最终,在全球嘲笑面前,他们决定不明确禁止测量,而是通过承诺至少几年内什么都不做来应对危机。这些反科学运动背后的笨蛋,大卫·劳泽(他还发誓要废除能源部,因为他震惊地看到那里的人们在读书)竞选了美国国会,目前正参与一场漫长而令人沮丧的重新计票,虽然人们可以希望他大约 500 票的劣势能够保持住,并且那个因为“可能会对沿海经济产生负面影响”而抵制科学证据的人不会成为美国国会议员。

这就是讽刺之处。因为无论北卡罗来纳州立法与否,整个科学的事情一直在进行。这意味着在选举日当天,美国地质学会召开了会议——地点就在,宇宙真是个捉弄人的家伙,北卡罗来纳州。在那里,通常的科学人士进行了更多的科学研究,特别讨论了六月份发表在《自然·气候变化》上的一篇文章,该文章指出,在全球海平面上升热点地区中,北卡罗来纳州海岸位居世界前列。

由于许多因素——例如地面沉降——海平面上升在世界各地并不均匀。有些地方加速,有些地方甚至减速。而在北卡罗来纳州,海平面上升正在加速,这可能导致一个世纪内的上升幅度接近五英尺,而不是最初让我们的立法者如此激动的约三英尺。

所以,哈哈——当你在告诉宇宙你根本不在乎它的物理定律时,它却在用这些物理定律淹没你。现在笑吧,否认者。

劳泽至少是诚实的——他与其说是怀疑科学,不如说是选择忽视它,因为这关系到短期利益。如果他的任何后代有能力踩水,他们可能就不会笑得这么开心了。

 

Scott Huler was born in 1959 in Cleveland and raised in that city's eastern suburbs. He graduated from Washington University in 1981; he was made a member of Phi Beta Kappa because of the breadth of his studies, and that breadth has been a signature of his writing work. He has written on everything from the death penalty to bikini waxing, from NASCAR racing to the stealth bomber, for such newspapers as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Los Angeles Times and such magazines as ESPN, Backpacker, and Fortune. His award-winning radio work has been heard on "All Things Considered" and "Day to Day" on National Public Radio and on "Marketplace" and "Splendid Table" on American Public Media. He has been a staff writer for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Raleigh News & Observer and a staff reporter and producer for Nashville Public Radio. He was the founding and managing editor of the Nashville City Paper. He has taught at such colleges as Berry College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

His books include Defining the Wind, about the Beaufort Scale of wind force, and No-Man's Lands, about retracing the journey of Odysseus.

His most recent book, On the Grid, was his sixth. His work has been included in such compilations as Appalachian Adventure and in such anthologies as Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont, The Appalachian Trail Reader and Speed: Stories of Survival from Behind the Wheel.

For 2014-2015 Scott is a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, which is funding his work on the Lawson Trek, an effort to retrace the journey of explorer John Lawson through the Carolinas in 1700-1701.

He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, the writer June Spence, and their two sons.

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