All posts tagged: Consensus

Following the scientific consensus: How to be “the least wrong”

Following the scientific consensus: How to be “the least wrong”

Published by skeptic

Sign up for the Starts With a Bang newsletter Travel the universe with Dr. Ethan Siegel as he answers the biggest questions of all Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. There are two important and common words that, when used scientifically, have a very different meaning than how we use them in everyday language: theory and consensus. These two words, in our commonplace usage, have meanings that imply a large degree of uncertainty, and enormous amounts of wiggle-room for how the reality surrounding these ideas could turn out to be vastly different from our current conceptions. A theory is merely a thought that anyone can put forward: a supposition, a wild guess, or even baseless speculation all count as “theories” in our daily conversations, where strongly validated ideas like gravitation and completely erroneous ones, like the Earth is flat, both get described with the same word: theory. While most of us can recognize the difference between a scientific and non-scientific use of the word theory, this line is even blurrier when it comes to …

Despite growing consensus, many Jewish and Christian groups loath to admit genocide in Gaza

Despite growing consensus, many Jewish and Christian groups loath to admit genocide in Gaza

Published by skeptic

(RNS) — In the past four years, the United States has recognized the Uyghur genocide in China and the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar. Just this past week (Jan. 7), the U.S. accused a Sudanese paramilitary group and its proxies of committing genocide. But when it comes to Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, injured thousands more and flattened the coastal strip, making it largely uninhabitable, the U.S. government is nowhere near arriving at that conclusion. The same is true for many U.S. religious groups, including Jews and Christians who have, with some exceptions, remained silent despite growing recognition of the crime. In a lengthly New York Times interview earlier this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied there was a genocide. And in a sign that the incoming Trump administration would likely take the same position, the U.S. Congress last week passed legislation that would impose sanctions on officials at the International Criminal Court for seeking to charge Israeli leaders with war crimes. Forty-five Democrats joined Republicans to approve the …

Consensus or division? How Modi will manage Indian coalition government | Narendra Modi

Consensus or division? How Modi will manage Indian coalition government | Narendra Modi

Published by skeptic

As Narendra Modi traversed the country during recent months, campaigning for a third term in power, he repeated the same refrain. The past decade “was just a trailer”, the prime minister told crowds, adding: “There is plenty more to come.” The expectation, among his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and most analysts and pollsters, was that India’s election would easily return him to power with the same – if not stronger – supermajority that he has enjoyed over the past decade. Yet instead, this month’s results dealt a sobering blow. While the BJP won the most seats, the party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time under Modi. In order to return to power, he is suddenly beholden to coalition partners – an assortment of regional parties with very differing ideologies. All eyes are now on how Modi will govern, after decades of political leadership at the state, and then, national level, where he has never had to engage in consensus politics. Coalition restraints Since the shock election result, Modi’s public messages have emphasised the …

Campus debate on Gaza fails to achieve consensus at Sciences Po

Campus debate on Gaza fails to achieve consensus at Sciences Po

Published by skeptic

During a sit-in organized on the sidewalk of Rue Saint-Guillaume, in front of the entrance to Sciences Po Paris, on April 26, 2024. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP Far from putting an end to the Palestine mobilization, the town hall debate held on Thursday, May 2, in the presence of 350 students, teachers and staff at Sciences Po in Paris resulted in a hardening of positions. In front of the building, Hicham, spokesman for the Palestine Committee at Sciences Po Paris, announced the continuation of the movement with a “peaceful sit-in” in the hall and the start of a hunger strike by a student at 2 pm, “in solidarity with the Palestinian victims.” “Other students will be joining her throughout the day” and they will continue until “an official non-anonymous vote is held by the institute’s board on investigating partnerships with Israeli universities,” said the master’s student in human rights and humanitarian projects at the School of International Affairs. On Thursday evening, six went on hunger strike, and a hundred students voted to occupy the …

‘Broadening’ consensus on need to defeat Putin among EU leaders, says Lithuanian president – POLITICO

‘Broadening’ consensus on need to defeat Putin among EU leaders, says Lithuanian president – POLITICO

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the EU leader with the closest ties to Putin and, to a lesser extent, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is also seen as pro-Russia. Nausėda’s view from behind closed doors is mirrored by public statements from EU leaders. The most dramatic shift has been by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has ditched his early efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the war by negotiating with Putin directly. Macron now talks of potentially sending Western troops to Ukraine, and earlier this month said: “We are convinced that the defeat of Russia is indispensable to security and stability in Europe.” That brings the French president into line with views further east. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said: “Helping Ukraine by defeating Putin is the right thing to do in the broadest sense of the word. It is morally sound, strategically wise, militarily justified, and economically beneficial.” Source link

Rishi Sunak Says There’s A ‘Growing Consensus’ Britain Is Descending Into ‘Mob Rule’

Rishi Sunak Says There’s A ‘Growing Consensus’ Britain Is Descending Into ‘Mob Rule’

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Rishi Sunak has suggested the UK is descending into “mob rule”, and has urged police to do more to protect Britain’s democracy. His comment comes amid pro-Palestinian protests that have been held most weekends, drawing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, and growing concern in recent months over MPs’ safety since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Last week, parliament descended into chaos as tensions flared over a vote on the Israel-Hamas conflict, with the House of Commons speaker citing “frightening” threats against MPs for a decision to break with usual parliamentary procedure. But the Conservatives have been accused of deliberately raising tensions. Ex-Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson had the Tory whip removed over the weekend after he chose not to apologise for saying “Islamists” had “control” over London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim. Khan accused the Tories of adopting a strategy to “weaponise anti-Muslim prejudice for electoral gain”. Former home secretary Suella Braverman called the protests “hate marches” and accused police of being too lenient with them. The prime minister said a new …

EU sees G20 consensus on two-state solution for Israel-Palestinian conflict

EU sees G20 consensus on two-state solution for Israel-Palestinian conflict

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RIO DE JANEIRO: Foreign ministers at the G20 group of nations meeting in Brazil were of one opinion on the need for a two-state solution as the only path to peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday (Feb 22). “Everybody here, everybody. I haven’t heard anyone against it. There was a strong request for a two-state solution,” he told reporters. “It is consensus among us,” he added. Borrell’s view was supported by other delegates who said every speaker who addressed the war in Gaza called for a two-state solution. “There is a common denominator: there is not going to be peace … not going to be sustainable security for Israel unless the Palestinians have a clear political prospect to build their own state,” said Borrell, the EU minister for foreign affairs. He said the crisis in Gaza extends to the West Bank, which is “absolutely boiling” as Israeli settlers are “attacking Palestinian civilians”. Borrell said he had asked G20 host country Brazil to “explain to the world that …

Do Republicans Finally Have a Consensus Opinion on Abortion?

Do Republicans Finally Have a Consensus Opinion on Abortion?

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The grim reality for the Republican Party is that abortion access is an issue that has galvanized voters over and over, even in red states like Kansas and Kentucky. The party has yet to coalesce around a position, but behind doors, Donald Trump has reportedly expressed support for a 16-week ban on abortion with exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother, according to The New York Times. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Trump’s embrace of such a ban is rooted in neither science nor principle. According to an anonymous source in the Times report, his reasoning is, “It’s even. It’s four months.” Trump and Nikki Haley, the last two candidates standing in the Republican presidential primary, have assiduously avoided publicly taking a clear-cut stance on what level of a ban they would back in an apparent attempt to maintain the support of the religious right while not ostracizing voters without hard-line views on abortion, Republican women being a notable cohort. Haley, trailing in distant second place in the Republican primary, has seemingly staked …

Samsung Elec flags 35% drop in Q4 profit, missing market consensus

Samsung Elec flags 35% drop in Q4 profit, missing market consensus

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SEOUL: Samsung Electronics reported a likely 35 per cent drop in fourth-quarter operating profit on Tuesday (Jan 9), as a rebound in memory chip prices likely shrank losses in the South Korean company’s mainstay chips division. The world’s largest memory chip, smartphone and TV maker estimated its operating profit fell to 2.8 trillion won (US$2.13 billion) in October to December, from 4.31 trillion won a year earlier, in a short preliminary earnings statement. The profit missed a 3.7 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate. Revenue likely fell 4.9 per cent from the same period a year earlier to 67 trillion won, Samsung said in the statement. The company is due to release detailed earnings on Jan 31. Source link

Why Labour needs to decide whether to break the consensus on Israel | Israel-Gaza war

Why Labour needs to decide whether to break the consensus on Israel | Israel-Gaza war

Published by Sam

Two developments in the past 48 hours could test the cross-party consensus in Westminster on the conflict between Israel and Hamas: the signal sent by the Ministry of Defence that it is prepared to join the US in launching airstrikes against Houthi sites in Yemen, and statements by the Israeli political and military leadership that the war may take months or even a whole year to complete. Labour has so far largely concurred with UK government policy, which in turn has largely shadowed thinking inside the White House. Keir Starmer set out his thinking in a speech on 31 October when he said it was legitimate for Israel to seek to eliminate Hamas and that he opposed a ceasefire “for now” because Hamas would still be capable of carrying out a 7 October-style attack. Despite an internal rebellion, Labour has not in essence altered that view even as the death toll and destruction in Gaza has mounted. Where Labour has strayed from the government line, it has been on important but ultimately second order issues …