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originally posted by: hydeman11
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne
Scientists can measure atmospheric conditions trapped in seasonal snow ice, so think the south pole ice core drilling. You can even use the presence of lead in the atmosphere to see where we used leaded gasoline or CFC's to see where we started using aerosols. Those are what the graphs are based on. If you don't like graphs, you can just collect the data.
Anyone of my generation knows for a FACT that something is not right.
originally posted by: hydeman11
a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne
Well, I can't disagree with your assessment of science. I mean, we agree on pretty much everything you said...
Truly, all graphs are simply a visual manipulation of the data. I merely meant to suggest look at the data itself. If you don't trust the sources, you can make your own measurements, was what I was trying to get at. (Bad joke, I know, most people can't go do this kind of thing...)
And yes, interpretation of the past is founded in the assumption that the natural laws operated the same way in the past as they do now. That refers specifically to physical processes, not to say that everything was the same. (Common misunderstanding of uniformitarianism...) Now, these assumptions are necessary to make models. Without them, the data is meaningless numbers. Assumptions can be wrong, and when proven wrong, are dropped in favor of other, better supported assumptions. No proof in science, only strong support.
That said, I don't know if you're giving ice core isotope analyses their fair dues... Isotopes of oxygen present in the ice water can tell a lot about a climate, and gases and carbon isotopes are quite useful as well (no, I'm not talking C-14 dating, I'm talking about carbon isotopes as an indicator of the reserves from which the carbon was sourced).
While it is true these are only pieces that provide correlation data, it's better than nothing.