RUSH: John in St. Louis. John, it’s nice to have you on the EIB Network.
CALLER: Yeah, hey, it’s great to be here. Thanks for having me on. I was just hearing you talk about consensus and science —
RUSH: Yes.
CALLER: — and it kind of gets my head all screwy when you say that, because I don’t understand why you have a problem with consensus in general.
RUSH: Because science is not up to a vote.
CALLER: Okay, that’s fine. It’s fine. Just because you arrive at consensus doesn’t mean there’s a vote.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: There’s just general agreement.
RUSH: No, there’s —
RUSH: No, no, no, no. Science doesn’t — there’s nothing general about science. This is the point. This is not my phrase, by the way, this comes from other scientists, Michael Crichton. I’ve talked to the global warming scientists. This is not my creation. They told me this, and I thought, ‘That makes sense.’
CALLER: Well, sure, and it sounds like — it sounds like it makes sense. I mean just talk about consensus. It’s a —
RUSH: Are you a scientist?
CALLER: — simple word, it means agreement, general agreement, right?
RUSH: Are you a scientist?
CALLER: No, but I understand — I have a dictionary, and I can look up the word ‘consensus,’ and it just says ‘general agreement.’
RUSH: Okay, let’s say that we came to a ‘general agreement’ —
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: — that the earth is flat, and let’s say a majority of the scientific community —
CALLER: Right. It doesn’t make it true. Consensus doesn’t make it true. I’ll give you that, I’ll stipulate —
RUSH: Well, then what are we talking about?
CALLER: — that, yes, if the science community reaches consensus, it’s wrong, absolutely, could totally be wrong. You’re right. But it’s a judgment that’s arrived at by most of those concerned.
RUSH: Once it’s ‘science’ it’s not wrong, this is the point —
CALLER: (raising voice) Science can be wrong, why not? How can you say that! Science is wrong. It’s part of the method of science —
RUSH: The scientific method–
CALLER: (talking over host) — come up with the theory or hypothesis, you test it, if the test is wrong, it’s wrong, right?
RUSH: Yes, but it’s not called ‘science’ during the whole testing process! It’s not called science during the consensus process.
CALLER: Sure it is.
RUSH: No, it’s not. No, it is not. It is not called established science. There is the scientific method.
CALLER: I see what you’re saying. So when the conclusion isn’t met —
RUSH: What you’re telling me is —
CALLER: (raising voice) and if it’s gone through the scientific process and it’s proved, which is — some people say nothing can be proved in science, that’s okay — then it goes under the title of science.
RUSH: No, don’t say this ‘some stuff.’ There are lots of things in science that can be proved that are accepted, like where the moon is and gravity —
CALLER: Yeah, absolutely.
RUSH: — and that the planet’s round; the space shuttle’s seen it!
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: What you’re telling me is that you are willing, if you want to argue global warming on this basis, science, and this basis, you’re telling me that you need redefine some words in order to have a case. There is no ‘consensus’ in established science! It simply is not definitionally possible. I appreciate the call.