Climategate
The climate conspiracy theory, in a nutshell:
1. A talented, motivated, highly mathematically able individual spends something on the order of a decade or more as a lowly, poor undergraduate, graduate student, and postdoc to obtain the “climate scientist union card”.
2. Upon attainment of this certification, said individual can try to find an academic professorship or civil service research position, most of which make far less money than any entry level stock analyst.
3. It apparently never occurred to this highly mathematically inclined individual that for a fraction of the time in school they could land a job on Wall Street making an order of magnitude more than any academic position as a low level starting salary.
4. Being angry at “capitalism” for some nebulous, inadequately explained reason, said individual concocts an elaborate, decades long plan along with numerous other individuals all around the world, which is all kept super secret, to convince people that human activity is making the atmosphere retain more heat over time which will have damaging environmental effects over time, the most serious of which would not be seen until after said individuals are dead.
5. After having to push and prod bureaucratic institutions and public opinion against much much better funded and hysterical opposition for years, they will stand to make assloads of cash, again through some nebulous, inadequately explained process.
I found #1 particularly amusing.
1. A talented, motivated, highly mathematically able individual spends something on the order of a decade or more as a lowly, poor undergraduate, graduate student, and postdoc to obtain the “climate scientist union card”.
2. Upon attainment of this certification, said individual can try to find an academic professorship or civil service research position, most of which make far less money than any entry level stock analyst.
3. It apparently never occurred to this highly mathematically inclined individual that for a fraction of the time in school they could land a job on Wall Street making an order of magnitude more than any academic position as a low level starting salary.
4. Being angry at “capitalism” for some nebulous, inadequately explained reason, said individual concocts an elaborate, decades long plan along with numerous other individuals all around the world, which is all kept super secret, to convince people that human activity is making the atmosphere retain more heat over time which will have damaging environmental effects over time, the most serious of which would not be seen until after said individuals are dead.
5. After having to push and prod bureaucratic institutions and public opinion against much much better funded and hysterical opposition for years, they will stand to make assloads of cash, again through some nebulous, inadequately explained process.
I found #1 particularly amusing.