Republicans aren't good with computer simulations
Last edited Thu Feb 18, 2021, 06:04 PM - Edit history (1)
There are many branches of science which are dependent upon computer simulations due to the complexities involved or difficulties in doing direct measurements or experiments.
The best example is climate models. You can't run large scale experiments on the Earth's atmosphere, so you have to build these models. There are many different types of these, from the oceans to the atmosphere, all pulled together in Earth System Models (ESM). Climate deniers (largely Republicans) discount them all. Neither they nor the oil companies bother building their own.
On a related note, there are models of Peak Oil which are all snickered at by Republicans. I liken this to frat boys drinking at a keg party thinking the keg can never run dry. It's all good times...until PPPPPFFFERRTTPFEEFFFSSSS
Another example is the COVID-19 models. Republicans were quick to brush off the warnings emanating from them last Spring and cling to comparisons with the flu.
Then you have election polls. These are based on raw polling data with a lot of computer science heuristics weighing the data and providing predictions. Despite clear indicators of a Biden victory, these predictions were brushed off (not to mention the later brazen allegations of a stolen election in the face of that).
Then you have modeling of economies. Some of this insight is garnered from MMORPG player economies. Game companies learned very quickly that strong controls must be in place on the game assets to avoid massive imbalances of wealth and other unfair advantages. Republicans laugh this off as silly computer games.
The Big Bang! It's really hard to do direct measurements on that. Republicans are largely going with an alternate creation theory. You have your beliefs that you can't prove with absolute certainty, and we have our beliefs that we can't prove with absolute certainty. So it's a push, right?
What's the deal, Pubs? I can't think of a single subject or risk to society Republicans are spearheading with rigorous modeling work which the Democrats are blowing off.
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