It’s not just in the “global warming” arena that we’re assailed by the notion of some ironclad “scientific consensus.”  I’ve seen it thrown out in articles about high fructose corn syrup or bisphenol A being eeevil, too.

Not all that long ago, there was a powerful “scientific consensus” about the cause of stomach ulcers — that it was excess stomach acid.  Then a couple of guys named Barry Marshall and Robin Warren came along and proved it wrong — but not before they were roundly ridiculed by those who wanted to hold fast to the agreed-upon “wisdom.”  Thanks to Marshall and Warren’s refusal to back down, millions of ulcer sufferers are victimized by symptoms no longer; we now recognize that bacteria are the cause and treat the afflicted with antibiotics.

Everyone ought to be made familiar with the scientific philosophy of Karl Popper, for whom science is not about proving anything (which is impossible), but about DISPROVING incorrect conjectures — of which much of our science consists.