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'Chemtrails' not real, say atmospheric science experts

sciencedaily.com

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Re: 'Chemtrails' not real, say atmospheric science experts

#13
post #9

The idea of chemtrails is appealing to so many people because it's a way to express outrage toward the elites or upper echelons in society. The theories are always a bit vaporous (like the chemtrails themselves), but I think it's stemming from an honest, genuine sense of frustration that one is being cheated or manipulated by a system that doesn't represent them. Chemtrails give a head to this boogeyman.

Interesting point of view. thanks for sharing

Re: 'Chemtrails' not real, say atmospheric science experts

#15
"Caldeira said. "I felt it was important to definitively show what real experts in contrails and aerosols think. We might not convince die-hard believers that their beloved secret spraying program is just a paranoid fantasy, but hopefully their friends will accept the facts.""

I doubt they will convince any conspiracy theorists. Often, the opposite occurs, i.e. 'the backfire effect': when they are approached with factual evidence, they end up feeling more strongly about their views than before, despite however wrong they may be.

Re: 'Chemtrails' not real, say atmospheric science experts

#16

"Caldeira said. "I felt it was important to definitively show what real experts in contrails and aerosols think. We might not convince die-hard believers that their beloved secret spraying program is just a paranoid fantasy, but hopefully their friends will accept the facts."" I doubt they will convince any conspiracy theorists. Often, the opposite occurs, i.e. 'the backfire effect' : when they are approached with fa…

Usually quoting a combination of other conspiracies that turned out to be true, and the 'first they ignore you, then they laugh at you' cliche, like somehow those things add credence to their story.

Carl Sagan's 'Demon Haunted World' book from the 1990s is a fascinating read on how the world is obsessed with conspiracy theories and pseudoscience.

Re: 'Chemtrails' not real, say atmospheric science experts

#18

"Caldeira said. "I felt it was important to definitively show what real experts in contrails and aerosols think. We might not convince die-hard believers that their beloved secret spraying program is just a paranoid fantasy, but hopefully their friends will accept the facts."" I doubt they will convince any conspiracy theorists. Often, the opposite occurs, i.e. 'the backfire effect' : when they are approached with fa…

They recognize that. From the abstract of the linked article:

Our goal is not to sway those already convinced that there is a secret, large-scale spraying program—who often reject counter-evidence as further proof of their theories—but rather to establish a source of objective science that can inform public discourse.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/8/084011

Re: 'Chemtrails' not real, say atmospheric science experts

#20
> "We wanted to establish a scientific record on the topic of secret atmospheric spraying programs for the benefit of those in the public who haven't made up their minds," said Steven Davis of UC Irvine. "The experts we surveyed resoundingly rejected contrail photographs and test results as evidence of a large-scale atmospheric conspiracy."

Not that I disagree with their expert opinions, but this is not a scientific record. This is not a hypothesis with reproducible experiments that prove or disprove the hypothesis. This is the aggregate opinion of many highly-educated people.

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