Many issues in modern society are far too complex for politicians to manage, especially when they rely on a bunch of staffers to brief them on the issues. So they dumb it down into one number. In the case of global temperature anomalies, not only is the integrity of the data series questionable (over 1/2 of temperature readings from the US Climatology Station Network are estimates today because urban development has encroached on the stations that used to be in the country), but what measurements we do have show that the average temperature in the US is rising because nights are getting warmer, but daytime highs aren’t changing. If trapped outgoing radiation was the cause, one might think that the daytime temperature would be rising ….
I'm glad you mention the staffers. It would have been very scary if the staffers in the previous administration had succeeded at conforming AI to their simplistic world views. On the other hand, we might not have to worry about ASI if that were the case.
Many issues in modern society are far too complex for politicians to manage, especially when they rely on a bunch of staffers to brief them on the issues. So they dumb it down into one number. In the case of global temperature anomalies, not only is the integrity of the data series questionable (over 1/2 of temperature readings from the US Climatology Station Network are estimates today because urban development has encroached on the stations that used to be in the country), but what measurements we do have show that the average temperature in the US is rising because nights are getting warmer, but daytime highs aren’t changing. If trapped outgoing radiation was the cause, one might think that the daytime temperature would be rising ….
I'm glad you mention the staffers. It would have been very scary if the staffers in the previous administration had succeeded at conforming AI to their simplistic world views. On the other hand, we might not have to worry about ASI if that were the case.