re: #9 carnaby

… of Lindzen, that the earth climate system is intrinsically stable. If this were not the case, we would not be here not to discuss the matter.

“Stable” is not a very good term to use. “Dynamic equilibrium” is thrown out by LVQ as the preferred description, though I don’t really like that term either.

Hawking’s point is simply that once drive far enough Earth’s climate system will revert back to the very warm climate of 40 or 50 million years ago. That is, our current ice age, from the onset of the Pleistocene, can be overridden by human effort. In other words, we won’t get an intermediate step that is say 60% Pleistocene and 40% Eocene, but rather the full on PETM in all its glory.