News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Estimated 3° Warming by 2500 if we cut all emissions now by taneq on Friday November 13, 2020 @03:10AM (#25080155)
If I pour water into a bucket at a set rate, I could not with all the computing power in the world tell you where a particular drop of water will end up in that bucket an hour from now, but I can tell you to the millimeter what the depth will be at any point in the future. Hopefully the analogy is clear.
Re:Estimated 3° Warming by 2500 if we cut all emissions now by woofie11 on Friday November 13, 2020 @09:33PM (#25089787)
That's an excellent analogy. Best I've heard.

I'll make it a little bit more accurate. If I poor water into a bucket at a set rate, it takes incredible computing power to simulate the hydrodynamics and understand how the water is splashing, the patterns of ripples, and the turbulence in the water, but I can tell you that when I've poured in 2 gallon, the bucket will be full.

I'll make it even better.

I'm spraying water at my dog. Weather is predicting where the hose spray will fly, and how much make it on the dog at any moment. Climate is predicting how wet the dog will be in the end and what will get wet if dog goes in the house.

My (blue) wife claims she can predict the exact amount of water on my dog, and says if I let the mutt in, 1.4 cups of mud will get on the stairs, and I shouldn't do it.

I (red) correctly say that's nonsense, and that she can't predict that with any accuracy. I keep spraying the dog, and let the muddy dog in the house.

Dog doesn't go for the stairs, but heads for the $5000 sofa, staining it to where it's a $100 Goodwill sofa, and shaking mud onto the AV system. Stairs are clean, though.

TL;DR: We can't predict shit will get f-ed up to nearly the degree Democrats say they can. We know shit will get f-ed up, though, with pretty good certainty.

(My own opinion is we've badly underestimated the impact of chemical effects, like ocean acidification, and overestimated the effects of temperature change; but the dog might go for the pantry instead)

Re:Estimated 3° Warming by 2500 if we cut all emissions now by haltingproblem on Friday November 13, 2020 @11:00AM (#25083590)
I appreciate the analogy but this the difference between climate and weather can not be scientifically explained by analogy.
Re:Estimated 3° Warming by 2500 if we cut all emissions now by esarbe on Friday November 13, 2020 @12:48PM (#25085098)
Because.... reasons?
Re:Estimated 3° Warming by 2500 if we cut all emissions now by taneq on Friday November 13, 2020 @01:11PM (#25085432)
Elaborate.